Radiographic image reading apparatus

ABSTRACT

A radiographic image reading apparatus for reading radiographic image information from a storage phosphor sheet, includes: a conveyance mechanism for conveying the storage phosphor sheet, a cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet, or a part of the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet; and a conveyance mechanism inclining mechanism for inclining the conveyance mechanism; wherein when the storage phosphor sheet, the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet, or the part of the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet, is jammed while the storage phosphor sheet, the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet, or the part of the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet is conveyed by the conveyance mechanism, the conveyance mechanism inclining mechanism inclines the conveyance mechanism so as to be able to remove the storage phosphor sheet, the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet, or the part of the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet from the radiographic image reading apparatus.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a radiographic image readingapparatus for reading radiographic image information stored in a storagephosphor sheet.

[0003] 2. Description of Related Art

[0004] A radiographic image reading apparatus outputting imageinformation as digital data has been frequently used for digitizingradiographic image information generated at hospitals to store and totelephotograph the digitized radiographic image information. As aradiographic image reading apparatus for outputting such digital data, aradiographic image reading apparatus using a storage phosphor sheet iswell known.

[0005] The storage phosphor sheet detects a part of radiation energywhich has been transmitted through a subject. At the same time, thestorage phosphor sheet can store detected radiation energy in the insideof the storage phosphor sheet. Moreover, the radiation energy stored inthe storage phosphor sheet can be taken out as photo-stimulableluminescence by being excited by a laser beam having a predeterminedwavelength. The photo-stimulable luminescence from the storage phosphorcan be taken out as an electric signal by means of a photoelectricconversion element such as a photomultiplier and the like.

[0006] Generally, a storage phosphor sheet can be used in the state inwhich the storage phosphor sheet is housed in a thin type box-likeportable housing called as a cassette. Because a user can easily carrythe storage phosphor sheet together with the cassette in such a usingform, radiation photographing can be performed by handling the cassettesimilarly to the cassette of the conventionally used screen film system.

[0007] As the handling method of the storage phosphor sheet, asdisclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 1-237636specification, a contact carrier system is well known. In the contactcarrier system, a flexible storage phosphor sheet is taken out from acassette with a sucking disk or the like to convey the taken storagephosphor sheet while being nipped with rollers.

[0008] Moreover, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open PublicationNo. Hei 11-160821 specification, a noncontact conveyance system has beenalso proposed. In the noncontact conveyance system, a storage phosphorsheet is stuck to a rigid plate member, and the storage phosphor sheetand the plate member are conveyed by a method contacting with only theplate member (without contacting with the storage phosphor sheet).

[0009] Moreover, as shown in an embodiment of the present invention,another noncontact conveyance system can be also considerable. In thenoncontact conveyance system, a storage phosphor sheet is attracted tothe back plate side of a cassette in advance, and the front plate andthe back plate are separated after the taking of the cassette into theinner part of an apparatus to convey the storage phosphor sheet togetherwith the back plate.

[0010] As described above, for reading a radiographic image informationfrom a storage phosphor sheet, it is necessary to convey the storagephosphor sheet, a cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet, or a partof the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet. However, there isthe case where an apparatus is obliged to be stopped owing to theoccurrence of the situation in which conveyance cannot be continued(conveyance failure) owing to, for example, a jam during the conveyanceof the storage phosphor sheet, the cassette holding the storage phosphorsheet, or the part of the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet.

[0011] In case of an apparatus to be used in a medical spot, when theapparatus has stopped owing to the conveyance failure, it is desired notonly to inform a user of the occurrence of the conveyance failure, butalso to eliminate the conveyance failure immediately, and to restore theapparatus to be able to be used again. The reason is that, if theapparatus is staying to stop, not only emergent diagnostic imaging of apatient cannot be performed, but also it becomes impossible to continuethe succeeding medical treatments.

[0012] However, the restoring work from such a conveyance failure of theprior art radiographic image reading apparatus using a storage phosphorhas been limited to the work of a service man. Consequently, when theconveyance failure occurs, the user is obliged to call a service man andto stop the radiation photographing service until the service manarrives.

[0013] In a copy machine, a printer or the like, it has become commonknowledge to install a user maintenance mechanism for enabling a user torelease a jam when output paper causes the jam. However, such a usermaintenance mechanism is not realized in the radiographic image readingapparatus using a storage phosphor. As the reason, the following causescan be considered.

[0014] 1) In case of the copy machine or a printer, because output paperare very cheap, the presupposition that the output paper which hascaused a jam may be in the state of being impossible to use owing tobeing torn or injured (may be output again) can be concluded. However,in case of the radiographic image reading apparatus using a storagephosphor, a storage phosphor sheet is very expensive. Consequently, thestate in which the storage phosphor sheet cannot be used owing to beingtorn or injured is not allowed. Because of such a restriction, theconstruction of the mechanism of the user maintenance is difficult.

[0015] 2) In a copy machine or a printer, even when the output paperwhich has caused a jam is spoilt, a copy or a print out can be performedagain. On the contrary, the storage phosphor sheet used for aradiographic image reading apparatus stores image-information of apatient. When the storage phosphor sheet is spoilt, it is necessary toperform re-photographing of the patient. However, the re-photographingmakes the patient be exposed by superfluous radiation, which is veryundesirable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0016] The present invention was made in view of the respects describedabove. It is an object of the present invention to provide aradiographic image reading apparatus capable of releasing a jam safelywithout injuring the surface of a storage phosphor sheet.

[0017] For settling the object mentioned above and for achieving theobject, the present invention is configured as follows.

[0018] In accordance with a first aspect of the invention, aradiographic image reading apparatus for reading radiographic imageinformation from a storage phosphor sheet, comprises:

[0019] a conveyance mechanism for conveying the storage phosphor sheet,a cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet, or a part of the cassetteholding the storage phosphor sheet; and

[0020] a conveyance mechanism inclining mechanism for inclining theconveyance mechanism;

[0021] wherein when the storage phosphor sheet, the cassette holding thestorage phosphor sheet, or the part of the cassette holding the storagephosphor sheet, is jammed while the storage phosphor sheet, the cassetteholding the storage phosphor sheet, or the part of the cassette holdingthe storage phosphor sheet is conveyed by the conveyance mechanism, theconveyance mechanism inclining mechanism inclines the conveyancemechanism so as to be able to remove the storage phosphor sheet, thecassette holding the storage phosphor sheet, or the part of the cassetteholding the storage phosphor sheet from the radiographic image readingapparatus.

[0022] According to the first aspect of the present invention, because aradiographic image reading apparatus for reading radiographic imageinformation from a storage phosphor sheet, comprises: a conveyancemechanism for conveying the storage phosphor sheet, a cassette holdingthe storage phosphor sheet, or a part of the cassette holding thestorage phosphor sheet; and a conveyance mechanism inclining mechanismfor inclining the conveyance mechanism; wherein when the storagephosphor sheet, the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet, or thepart of the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet, is jammed whilethe storage phosphor sheet, the cassette holding the storage phosphorsheet, or the part of the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet isconveyed by the conveyance mechanism, the conveyance mechanism incliningmechanism inclines the conveyance mechanism so as to be able to removethe storage phosphor sheet, the cassette holding the storage phosphorsheet, or the part of the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheetfrom the radiographic image reading apparatus, even when a jam is causedin use, a user can perform jam releasing processing safely in the stateof securing a sufficient working space without waiting the arrival of aservice man. Thereby, it is possible to release a jam safely withoutinjuring the surface of a storage phosphor sheet.

[0023] The radiographic image reading apparatus may comprise amaintenance door for opening and closing a part of a casing of theradiographic image reading apparatus so as to be able to remove thestorage phosphor sheet, the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet,or the part of the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet from theradiographic image reading apparatus.

[0024] The radiographic image reading apparatus may further comprise aninterlock mechanism for stopping an operation of the conveyancemechanism when an open state of the maintenance door is detected.

[0025] The radiographic image reading apparatus may further comprise anactuating section for actuating the conveyance mechanism,

[0026] wherein the conveyance mechanism inclining mechanism comprises ajig attachment section for attaching a jig for rotating a rotation shaftof the actuating section to a direction of inclining the conveyancemechanism, and

[0027] the rotation shaft of the actuating section is rotated to thedirection of inclining the conveyance mechanism by attaching the jig tothe jig attachment section and by operating the jig.

[0028] The jig may be a rotation knob. The conveyance mechanism may beinclined by manually rotating the rotation knob.

[0029] The jig attachment section may be a cylinder member.

[0030] The maintenance door may include a housing portion for housingthe jig, and the maintenance door does not take a close state when thejig is not housed in the housing portion of the maintenance door.

[0031] Because a maintenance door is configured not to become the closestate unless a rotation knob is housed in a housing place of themaintenance door, an apparatus does not operate in the state in whichthe rotation knob is fitted to the jig attachment section on a motorshaft after a release of a jam. Consequently, there is no fear ofcausing torque changes in motor rotations, and a break of the apparatusowing to the coming off of the jig attachment section in the apparatusduring its operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032]FIGS. 1A and 1B are perspective views showing a cassette when thefront panel and the back panel are separated;

[0033]FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the cassette when the frontpanel and the back panel are united;

[0034]FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 3E, 3F, 3G and 3H are views showing the backpanel and the front panel when they are in a locked state;

[0035]FIGS. 4A and 4B are views showing a lock mechanism of the backpanel and the front panel;

[0036]FIGS. 5A and 5B are views showing the back panel of the cassettewhen the back panel is looked at from the back side thereof;

[0037]FIG. 6 is a view showing a configuration example of a radiographicimage reading apparatus;

[0038]FIG. 7 is a view showing a relation between a conveyance mechanismand a sub-scanning mechanism;

[0039]FIG. 8 is a view showing a cassette insertion and ejection sectionwhen the section is looked at from above;

[0040]FIG. 9 is a view showing a display and operation section when itis looked at from the front;

[0041]FIGS. 10A and 10B are vies showing a relation between theconveyance mechanism and the sub-scanning mechanism at the delivery ofthe back panel;

[0042]FIG. 11 is a view showing a positional relation of the cassette incase of an upper side reference and a center reference; and

[0043]FIG. 12 is a transition diagram showing changes of the displaycontents of a display.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0044] Hereinafter, the attached drawings are referred while thepreferred embodiments of the present invention are described in detail.FIGS. 1A to 5B are views showing a cassette 1 to be used in aradiographic image reading apparatus of the present invention..

[0045] The cassette 1 is composed of a front panel 10 and a back panel20 which can be separated from each other. FIGS. 1A and 1B areperspective views showing the cassette 1 when the front panel 10 and theback panel 20 are separated. FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing thecassette 1 when the front panel 10 and the back panel 20 are united.FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 3E, 3F, 3G and 3H are sectional views of thecassette 1 which show the states of the lock mechanism. FIGS. 4A and 4Bare views showing the lock mechanism of the cassette 1. FIGS. 5A and 5Bare views showing the back panel 20 when it is looked at from the backside thereof (opposite side of the front panel 10).

[0046] The front panel 10 is composed of a frame 11 and a front faceplate 13. A non-woven fabric 17 is stuck on the inner face of the frontface plate 13. The frame 11 is composed of a frame side face 110, aframe bottom face 111, an inclined face 112 and an inward face 113forming a predetermined angle inclination, a frame inner surface 114, ashielding projection 115, an insertion opening 14, notches 15 a and 15b, and locking recesses 16 a, 16 b, 16 c and 16 d. The inclined face 112and the shielding projection 115 form a recess 12 in the inner part ofthe frame 11.

[0047] By the formation of the inclined face 112 on the frame 11 in sucha way, the alignment accuracy when the back panel 20 is united with thefront panel 10 can be designed roughly. That is, by the formation of theinclined face 112 on the frame 11, the inclined face 112 automaticallyguides the back panel 20 to the uniting position even when the positionat which the back panel 20 is united with the front panel 10 is shifteda little. Consequently, the requirements for parts accuracy and assemblyaccuracy on an apparatus side can be relaxed. Moreover, when finedeformations are produced in the framework and the mechanism of anapparatus at the transportation of the apparatus, the probability ofcausing a defect can be reduced very much by the uniting work of thefront panel 10 and the back panel 20.

[0048] It is preferable that the frame 11 is made of a material bearablewith large weight at full weighting photographing such as aluminum,rigid plastic or the like. It is preferable that the front face plate 13is made of a member which has large strength and a relatively smallradiation absorption rate such as aluminum, carbon fiber reinforcedplastic or the like.

[0049] Because a cassette of the type of opening and closing the sideface side of the cassette or the type of drawing out a side face plateof the cassette cannot be configured to have the structure having norift of the outer periphery of the side face of the cassette, thestructure is weak at a load from the front side. On the contrary,because the present embodiment has the structure in which the frame 11of the front panel 10 covers the outer periphery of the front face plate13 without any rift, the embodiment can receive the load imposed fromthe front panel 10 side of the cassette 1 during photographing on thewhole frame 11 equally. Consequently, the structure of the embodimenthas the strong durability to the load imposed from the front panel 10side.

[0050] The back panel 20 is formed by means of a back panel body 21, aradiation absorbing sheet 25, a support plate 27 and a storage phosphorsheet 28.

[0051] The storage phosphor sheet 28 is bonded to the support plate 27with the radiation absorbing sheet 25 between them. The radiationabsorbing sheet 25 is, for example, a lead sheet, and absorbs aradiation transmitted through the storage phosphor sheet 28. Thereby, itis prevented that a back-scatter transmitted from the compositions, suchas the support plate 27 and the back panel body 21, of the cassette 1,which are positioned behind the storage phosphor sheet 28, and aback-scatter transmitted from the other compositions which would existbehind the cassette 1 reach the storage phosphor sheet 28. The supportplate 27 is bonded on the surface of bonded parts 2.14 with adouble-faced adhesive tape or a bonding agent at the strength capable ofbeing reference-bonded. The bonded parts 214 and ribs 215 form airphases 23 to contribute to the weight saving of the cassette. Asdescribed above, the storage phosphor sheet 28 having the support plate27 form an integral structure with the back panel body 21 in the formcapable of being peeled from each other.

[0052] When the storage phosphor sheet 28 is wanted to be exchanged, thestorage phosphor sheet 28 is peeled off from the bonded parts 214together with the support plate 27. 1After that, a support plate 27 towhich a new storage phosphor sheet 28 is attached may be bonded to thebonded parts 214 with double-faced adhesive tapes, a bonding agent orthe like. When the double-faced adhesive tapes are used for the bodingof the support plate 27 to the bonded parts 214, it is preferable thatthe double-faced adhesive tapes are previously bonded on the bondingparts of the support substance 27 with the bonded parts 214. In the casewhere the double-faced adhesive taps are previously bonded on thesupport substance 27 side, the double-faced adhesive tapes do not remainon the bonded parts 214 side of the back panel 21 when the support plate27 is peeled off from the back panel 21, and the double-faced adhesivetapes are peeled off together with the support plate 27 of the storagephosphor sheet 28. Consequently, the cleaning processing of the bondedsurfaces of the bonded parts 214 (the processing of cleaning theresiduals of the previous double-faced adhesive tapes) becomes easy whenthe next storage phosphor sheet 28 is stuck.

[0053] Moreover, the back panel 20 may be configured to attract thesupport plate 27 by means of magnetic force without bonding the supportplate 27 to the bonded parts 214 by means of the double-faced adhesivetapes, the bonding agent or the like for making the exchange of thestorage phosphor sheet 28 easy. For example, magnets are bonded on parts(bonded surfaces to the bonded parts 214) of the back surface (thesurface on which the storage phosphor sheet 28 is not stuck) of thesupport plate 27. On the other hand, the bonded parts 214 or thesurfaces of the bonded parts 214 are made of a magnetic substancematerial. When such a configuration is adopted, it is possible to takeoff support plate 27 to which the storage phosphor sheet 28 is bondedfrom the back panel 20 easily. Moreover, it is needless to say that thesimilar effects can be obtained also by arranging a magnetic substanceto parts of the back surface of the support plate 27 (bonded surfaces tothe bonded parts 214) and by forming the bonded parts 214 or the surfaceparts of the bonded parts 214 by the use of magnets.

[0054] As the support plate 27, a light resin plate in thickness ofabout 0.7 mm to 1.2 mm which is uneasily deformed by changes oftemperature and humidity and has a good planarity, such as a glass epoxyresin plate, a paper phenol resin plate and the like can be used.Moreover, as the support plate 27, a light metal plate made of aluminumor magnesium alloy may be used.

[0055] When a metal is used for the support plate 27, it is desirable toform small holes on the whole surfaces of the metal plate for weightsaving.

[0056] The back panel body 21 is composed of a back panel back surface210, a back panel side face 211, a rim 212, the ribs 215 and a magneticsubstance sheet 29, such as iron foil. On the inside of the rim 212, arecess 22 is formed for receiving the shielding projection 115.

[0057] When the back panel 20 and the front panel 10 are united as shownin FIG. 2, the recess 22 of the back panel 20, and the shieldingprojection 115 and the rim 212 of the front panel 10 operate so that theshielding projection 115 enters into the recess 22 and rim 212 entersinto the recess 12. By such a method, light shielding is performed lestoutside light should arrive at the storage phosphor sheet 28. In thecase where, for example, velvet, a sponge or the like is stuck in therecess 12 of the front panel 10, the light shielding performance can befurther improved.

[0058] Moreover, as shown in FIG. 2, the front panel 10 and the backpanel 20 are designed so that a gap having a certain degree of aninterval is formed between the tip of the inclined face 112 of the frontpanel 10 and the inward face 113 of the frame 11, and the back panelside face 211 in the state in which the front panel 10 and the backpanel 20 are united. This gap is one necessary for performing theuniting of the front panel 10 and the back panel 20 smoothly. As long asthe interval of the gap is within a range of about 0.2 mm to 2 mm, theuniting of the front panel 10 and the back panel 20 can be performedsufficiently smoothly. Moreover, the gap is important for absorbing themanufacturing errors of the front panel 10 and the back panel 20 and forabsorbing the thermal expansion of the back panel 20. Consequently, thegap improves the reliability and the stability of the uniting operationof the front panel 10 and the back panel 20.

[0059] Because this embodiment adopts the light shielding method basedon the combination the recess and the projections as described above,there is no possibility that the outside light which has entered thoughthe gap arrives at the storage phosphor sheet 28 to fog the storagephosphor.

[0060] The back panel body 21 is, as shown in FIG. 2, configured to formthe back panel body 21 with an ordinary plastic and to stick themagnetic substance sheet 29 such as the iron foil to the back panel backsurface 210 so as to be able to be attracted to a magnet 58 shown inFIG. 6 by magnetic force. The surface of the magnetic substance sheet 29is in the state of being covered by a not shown laminate plastic, or inthe state of being coated by paint, and is thereby configured so thatthe magnetic substance sheet 29 is not exposed. For example, withoutsticking the magnetic substance sheet 29, the back panel body 21 itselfmay be formed by means of a magnetic substance plastic or the like.Moreover, the method to coat a magnetic substance material on the backpanel back surface 210 or the like may be used.

[0061] Moreover, the back panel back surface 210 is designed so that theback panel back surface 210 follows the plane formed by the magnet 58when the back panel back surface 210 is attracted by the magnet 58. Thatis, the back panel 20 has rigidity to a certain degree and flexibilityto the degree of making it possible to follow the plane formed by themagnet 58. By giving the flexibility to some degree to the back panel 20as described above, even when the back panel 20 is deformed or warpedby, for example, a secular change or a busy condition, the deformationor the warp of the back panel 20 is absorbed by following the plane onthe magnet 58 side. Consequently, the surface of the storage phosphorsheet 28 can be always held as a plane at the reading of imageinformation.

[0062] When the photographing at which a load is imposed on the frontpanel 10 side (bed photographing, full load photographing or the like)is performed, the front face plate 13 of the front panel 10 produces agreat deal of warp to the back panel 20 side. When the rigidity of theback panel 20 is too high in this case, the back panel 20 keeps itsplanarity. Consequently the storage phosphor sheet 28 is pressed fromboth of the front panel 10 and the back panel 20 in a great deal, andthereby the storage phosphor is damaged. As described above, when theback panel 20 has both of a certain degree of the rigidity and a certaindegree of the flexibility, the back panel 20 can bend to some extent tothe direction to escape from the pressing of the front panel 10.Consequently, there is no chance of damaging the storage phosphor.

[0063] Of course, the back panel 20 should not have the flexibility tothe extent more than that being necessary. When the back panel 20 hasthe flexibility to the extent more than that being necessary, thedurability of the cassette 1 decreases. Moreover, when the back panel 20has the flexibility to the extent more than that being necessary, thequantity of the looseness of the back panel 20 owing to the self weightof the back panel 20 becomes large to produce a problem in its lightshielding performance, and to produce a problem in the planarity of thestorage phosphor surface at photographing.

[0064] Moreover, the ribs 215 are formed on the back panel 21 with theobject of completing to be light and of increasing its flexuralstrength, and with the object of braking the deformation quantity whenthe storage phosphor sheet 28 is pressed from the front panel 10 side.Moreover, lest the front face plate 13 should be contacted with thestorage phosphor sheet 28 to damage the surface of the storage phosphorsheet 28 when the font face plate 13 is pressed from the front panel 10side, the non-woven fabric 17 is arranged on the surface on the storagephosphor sheet 28 side of the front face plate 13. The non-woven fabric17 is preferably in a size smaller than the front face plate 13 andlarger than the phosphor coating surface of the storage phosphor sheet28 (the size capable of covering the whole phosphor coating surface).When the non-woven fabric 17 is smaller than the phosphor coatingsurface, such a case is not preferable because the difference of X-rayabsorption in the non-woven fabric 17 is recorded in the storagephosphor sheet 28 as image information. Moreover, when the non-wovenfabric 17 has a weave texture, the X-ray absorption difference owing tothe weave texture is recorded on the storage phosphor sheet 28 as imageinformation. Accordingly, it is preferable to use a non-woven fabrichaving a weave texture as little as possible. Moreover, in the casewhere the non-woven fabric becomes nappy and fibers of the non-wovenfabric float in an apparatus inner part to attach to a laser opticalsystem, the laser strength at reading becomes uniform to cause an imageto generate image defects such as vertical lines on the image. It ispreferable to use the non-woven fabric 17 to be nappy as little aspossible. Moreover, it is preferable to use a non-woven fabric which hasreceived fuzz preventive processing such as the permeation of resin orthe like into the non-woven fabric 17 and the performance of the surfacetreatment processing of the non-woven fabric 17.

[0065] Although the front panel 10 and the back panel 20 can beseparated, ordinarily photographing using radiations is performed in thestate in which the front panel 10 and the back panel 20 are uniting asshown in FIG. 2.

[0066] Next, by means of FIGS. 3A to 3H and FIGS. 4A and 4B, a lockmechanism of a cassette will be described.

[0067] A lock mechanism is prepared in the cassette 1 for keeping thefront panel 10 and the back panel 20 in their uniting state. Referencenumerals 30 a, 30 b, 30 c and 30 d designate lock claws of the backpanel 20. The lock mechanism is configured so that the tip of each lockclaw moves to the arrow Q1 direction or the arrow Q2 direction fromopening parts 31 a, 31 b, 31 c and 31 d with lock ON/OFF operations.

[0068] Reference numerals 32 a and 32 b of the back panel 20 designatelock claws different from the lock claws 30 a, 30 b, 30 c, and 30 d. Thelock claws 32 a and 32 b are configured to slide into the arrow Q1direction or arrow Q2 direction in opening parts 33 a and 33 b with lockON/OFF operations.

[0069] The lock ON state indicates the state in which the tips of thelock claws 30 a, 30 b, 30 c and 30 d protrude to the outside of the backpanel side face 211. At this time, the tip of each of the lock claws 30a, 30 b, 30 c and 30 d is in the state of rushing into the lockingrecesses 16 a, 16 b, 16 c and 16 d of the front panel 10, respectively.

[0070] Sectional views of the cassette 1 on dotted lines U1 and U2 inFIG. 4A in time of the lock ON state are shown as FIGS. 3A and 3B,respectively.

[0071] In the lock ON state, the tips of the lock claws 32 a and 32 bare in the state in which they have moved into the arrow Q1 direction.In this time, the phases of the notches 15 a and 15 b (openings formedin the frame inward face 113 and the inclined face 112) of the frontpanel 10 and the phases of the lock claws 32 a and 32 b are in the stateof not coinciding with each other. That is, the back panel 20 is in thestate of being impossible to be separated from the front panel 10.Sectional views of the cassette 1 on dotted lines U3 and U4 in FIGS. 4Aand 4B at this time are shown as FIGS. 3E and 3F, respectively.

[0072] The lock OFF state indicates the state in which the tips of thelock claws 30 a, 30 b, 30 c and 30 d enter into the inside of the backpanel side face 211. Sectional views of the cassette 1 on dotted linesU1 and U2 in FIG. 4A at this time are shown in FIGS. 3C and 3D,respectively. Because the phases of the lock claws 32 a and 32 b and thephases of the notches 15 a and 15 b are in the state of coinciding witheach other at this time, the back panel 20 can be separated from thefront panel 10. Sectional views of the cassette 1 on dotted lines U3 andU4 in FIGS. 4A and 4B at this time are shown in FIGS. 3G and 3H,respectively.

[0073] The lock claws 30 a, 30 b, 32 a and 32 b are configured tointerlock with a connecting member 35. On the other hand, the lock claws30 c and 30 d are configured to interlock with a connecting member 36.One end of each of springs 38 a is connected with the connecting member35, and the other ends of the springs 38 a are connect with the backpanel body 21. The connecting member 35 always receives the force tourge to move in the arrow Q1 direction from the springs 38 a. Theinsertion opening 14 of the front panel 10 is located in a positionalrelation corresponding to an insertion opening 34 of the back panel 20at the uniting.

[0074] When a bar member is pushed only one time into an arrow Pdirection from the insertion opening 14 (insertion opening 34) in timeof the lock ON state, the connecting member 35 moves into the arrow Q2direction by a predetermined distance and stops in the state to stay inthe lock OFF state shown in FIGS. 3C and 3D.

[0075] When the connecting member 35 has moved into the arrow Q2direction, a rack-and-pinion operation is caused by the rack forms ofthe tips of the connecting member 35 and the connecting member 36 and apinion 37, and the connecting member 36 also moves into an arrow R2direction by the same distance and stops. At this time, the lock claws32 a and 32 b move by the same distance into the arrow Q2 direction byinterlocking with the connect member 35 and stops in the lock OFF stateshown in FIGS. 3G and 3H.

[0076] That is, when the bar member is pushed only one time from theinsertion opening 14 (insertion opening 34) into the arrow P directionin the lock ON state, the lock is shifted to the lock OFF state, and thefront panel 10 and the back panel 20 become in the state capable ofbeing separated. When the bar member is not operated next through theinsertion opening 14 (insertion opening 34), the lock OFF state iscontinuously kept.

[0077] In time of lock OFF state, when the bar member is pushed only onetime into the arrow P direction from the insertion opening 14 (insertionopening 34), the connecting member 35 moves into the arrow Q1 directionby the predetermined distance and stops in the state to shift to thelock ON state shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B.

[0078] When the connecting member 35 has moved into the arrow Q1direction, the above-mentioned rack-and-pinion operation is caused, andthe connecting member 36 also moves into the arrow R1 direction by thesame distance and then stops. In this time, the lock claws 32 a and 32 bmove into the arrow Q1 direction by the same distance, and become in thelock ON state shown in FIGS. 3E and 3F.

[0079] That is, in time of the lock OFF state, when the bar member ispushed only one time from the insertion opening 14 (insertion opening34) into the arrow P direction, the lock state shifts to the lock ONstate, and the front panel 10 and the back panel 20 become in the stateof being impossible to be separated. When the bar member is not operatednext from insertion opening 14 (insertion opening 34), the lock ON stateis continuously kept.

[0080] As described above, the cassette 1 of this embodiment adopts thesystem (push and latch system) in which the lock ON state and the lockOFF state are switched every time when the bar member is inserted fromthe insertion opening 14 (insertion opening 34) and pushed. The push andlatch system is well known as the mechanism of being used for putting inand out a core of a ball-point pen from the sleeve of the ball-pointpen. The push and latch mechanism is involved in a push and latchsection 39 of FIG. 4A. One ends of the springs 38 b are connected to thepush and latch section 39, and the other ends of the springs 38 b areconnected to the back panel body 21. The springs 38 b always urges thepush and the latch section 39 to move into the arrow Q1 direction.

[0081] The notches 15 a and 15 b of the front panel 10 and the lockclaws 32 a and 32 b are arranged at positions distant from the centralposition C (the position indicated by an arrow C) on the side face sideof the cassette 1 by predetermined distances. By the arrangement of thenotches 15 a and 15 b and the lock claws 32 a and 32 b to be shiftedfrom the central position C on the side face side of the cassette 1(incidentally, if any one of the pairs of the lock claw 32 a and thenotch 15 a and of the lock claw 32 b and the notch 15 b is shifted fromthe central position C of the side face side of the cassette 1, theother pair may be arranged on the central position C on the side faceside of the cassette 1), the back panel 20 and the front panel 10 do notunite when their directions are not correct ones. Thereby, for example,it is possible to evade the risk of user's erroneous uniting of the backpanel 20 and the front panel 10 in their directions when the userseparates the cassette 1 for the cleaning of the inner part of thecassette 1, the replacement of the storage phosphor sheet 28, or thelike, and tries to perform the uniting of the back panel 20 and thefront panel 10 again after the termination of the work.

[0082] The mechanism for evading the risk of erroneous uniting of theback panel 20 and the front panel 10 in their directions is called as areversal insertion prevention mechanism.

[0083] Moreover, at least one projection is formed on any one of theframe 11 of the front panel 10 (for example, on the inner surface of theframe side face 110, or on the inclined face 112 or the like) and theouter periphery section of the back panel (for example, on the outsideface of the back panel side face 211), and at least one recess is formedon the other one, and further the projection and the recess are arrangedto coincide with each other only when the front panel 10 and the backpanel 20 are opposed at the correct directions. Thereby, it is possibleto construct the reversal insertion prevention mechanism easily.

[0084] For example, a projection shaped in a similar form to those ofthe lock claws 32 a and 32 b is formed on the outside face of the backpanel side face 211, and a recess shaped in a similar form to those ofthe notches 15 a and 15 b is formed on the frame 11 of the front panel10. Then, the projection and the recess are arranged in the samepositional relation as those of the lock claws 32 a and 32 b and thenotches 15 a and 15 b in the lock OFF state. Thereby, the reverseinsertion prevention mechanism can be constructed.

[0085] Moreover, when the lock mechanism is configured only by the lockclaws 30 a, 30 b, 30 c and 30 d (in the state in which the lock claws 32a and 32 b are not included), the side of the back panel 20 on which nolock claws reside loosens to vertically downward owing to the own weightof the back panel 20 when the cassette 1 is held so that the front panel10 is directed to vertically upward. In such a way, the lock mechanismusing the lock claws 32 a and 32 b can function also as a mechanism(loosening prevention mechanism) for preventing the loosening of theback panel 20 owing to its own weight.

[0086] Incidentally, the loosening prevention mechanism is not alwaysnecessary for the cassette 1 having a relatively small size in which theloosening of the back panel 20 owing to its own weight is rarelyproduced.

[0087] Moreover, in this embodiment, the insertion opening 14 and theinsertion opening 34 are exhibited as rectangle forms. However, thisexhibition does not mean that the insertion opening 14 and the insertionopening 34 are limited to the rectangle forms. For example, they may beshaped to be circular forms or the like.

[0088]FIGS. 5A and 5B are views showing the back panel 20 of thecassette 1 when it is looked at from the back side thereof (from theopposite side to the front panel 10). FIG. 5A indicates the lock ONstate, and FIG. 5B indicates the lock OFF state.

[0089] A code storage element 200 is stuck on the back panel backsurface 210 on the same side as that of the insertion opening 34. A clip201 is arranged on the back panel back surface 210 on the opposite sideto the code storage element 200.

[0090] In this embodiment, the code storage element 200 is a bar codelabel on which an optically readable pattern is printed. The codestorage element 200 (bar code label) is bonded at a position distantfrom a corner of a cassette 1 by a predetermined distance X independentof the size of the cassette 1.

[0091] Moreover, an element capable of reading a code written in thecode storage element 200 by means of radio techniques of electromagneticwaves, microwaves and the like may be used as the code storage element200. When the element capable of reading a code by means of the radiotechniques of electromagnetic waves, microwaves and the like, the coderecorded in the code storage element 200 can be accurately read evenwhen the positional relation between the code storage element 200 and areading apparatus of the code storage element 200 is a little shifted.Consequently, such an element is convenient. As such an element, forexample, an element called as a noncontact ID label (for example, Slabel) can be used.

[0092] When a code written in the code storage element 200 is read bymeans of the radio techniques of electromagnetic waves, microwaves andthe like, the code storage element 200 may be arranged at the inner partof the back panel 20 in place of the back panel back surface 210.Because reading and writing are performed by the radio techniques, it isneedless that the code storage element 200 resides on the back panelback surface 210. In this case, when a label on which the identificationnumber (ID number) of the storage phosphor sheet 28 or the like is stuckon the back panel back surface 210, the ID number can be visuallyrecognized. Consequently, it can be easily known.

[0093] When both of a bar code reading system and a reading system usingthe radio techniques are used together, it is more convenient. In thiscase, it is important that the contents of the bar code label and thecontents recorded in the element read by means of the radio techniquescorrespond to each other.

[0094] In the code storage element 200, a number indicating theidentification number (ID number), the date of manufacture and the lotnumber of a storage phosphor sheet 28, the version number of the storagephosphor, the size information of a cassette 1, the sensitivitycorrection information (or the sensitivity information) of the storagephosphor sheet 28, and the like is recorded as a code. When thesensitivity correction information (or the sensitivity information) ofthe storage phosphor sheet 28 is recorded, it is possible to read theinformation to correct the sensitivity of the storage phosphor.. Forexample, by changing an voltage supplied to an photoelectric conversionelement such as a photomultiplier tube and the like to change thereading sensitivity of the photoelectric conversion element, thedispersion of the sensitivity of the storage phosphor sheet 28 can becorrected to make it possible to read image information always at thefixed sensitivity. Such a sensitivity correction can be also achievedby, for example, 1performing the shift processing of digital datagenerated by performing the AD conversion of an output of a logarithmicamplifier in accordance with sensitivity information. In this case, itis needless to change the voltage to be applied to the photoelectricconversion element such as the photomultiplier tube and the like.

[0095]FIG. 6 is a view showing an embodiment of a radiographic imagereading apparatus of the present invention.

[0096] In an apparatus body 2, a cassette insertion opening 3, acassette ejection opening 4, a maintenance door 5 and casters 6 areprepared. Moreover, the apparatus body 2 is composed of a conveyancemechanism 40, a sub-scanning mechanism 50, a read mechanism 60, acassette insertion and ejection section 70, a display and operationmechanism 80 and a body framework section 90. The cassette insertion andejection section 70 is configured to be able to be removed from theapparatus body 2 easily.

[0097] Moreover, the sub-scanning mechanism 50 and the conveyancemechanism 40 are constructed on the same substrate 92 as that of thebody framework section 90. By arranging a rubber vibration isolator 93between the substrate 92 and * a base plate 91, a vibro-isolatingstructure for preventing the propagation of the vibrations of thecassette insertion and ejection section 70 to the sub-scanning mechanism50 is realized.

[0098] Moreover, a rubber vibration isolator 94 is arranged between theupper end of the sub-scanning mechanism 50 and a not shown apparatusframe. The rubber vibration isolator 94 is for strengthen thevibro-isolating structure to the sub-scanning mechanism 50.

[0099] By means of the vibro-isolating structure like this, it can beprevented that noises are generated in read image information owing tovibrations even when a cassette is inserted into the insertion opening3, or when a cassette is taken out from the ejection opening 4, orfurther when the apparatus body 2 is vibrated while the imageinformation is being read from the storage phosphor sheet 28 with theread mechanism 60.

[0100] Moreover, because the sub-scanning mechanism 50 and theconveyance mechanism 40 are constructed on the same substrate 92, adelivery position does not move when the back panel 20 is delivered fromthe conveyance mechanism 40 to the sub-scanning mechanism 50 asdescribed later. Thereby, the work of the separation and the uniting ofthe front panel 10 and the back panel 20 can be performed stably andaccurately.

[0101] Moreover, lest the mechanism on the conveyance mechanism 40 andthe substrate 92 should interfere with each other when the conveyancemechanism 40 inclines, an opening part capable of making the mechanismon the conveyance mechanism 40 escape to the under surface side of thesubstrate 92 is formed in the substrate 92. Moreover, the base plate 91also includes an opening part on the basis of the same reason. Asdescribed above, by the formation of the opening parts for making themechanism on the conveyance mechanism 40 escape in the substrate 92 andin the base plate 91, it becomes possible to construct the apparatusbody 2 having a low height.

[0102] However, the formation of the opening part in the base plate 91causes a problem of the entering of outside light into the apparatusbody 2. Accordingly, a removable light shielding plate 95 having adepression of a V letter form for covering the opening part in the baseplate 91 is prepared, and is attached to the base plate 91 in the stateof being projected downward as shown by a reference numeral 95 a in FIG.6. Thereby, the mechanism on the conveyance mechanism 40 is escaped tothe under surface side of the base plate 91 while it can be preventedthat the outside light enters into the apparatus body 2.

[0103] However, when the light shielding plate 95 is attached in thestate of being projected downward as designated by the reference numeral95 a of FIG. 6, the projecting section of the light shielding plate 95hinders when the apparatus body 2 is conveyed. Accordingly, when theapparatus body 2 is conveyed, the light shielding plate 95 is attachedin the state of projecting upward as designated by a reference numeral95 b in FIG. 6. Thereby, the projection section of the light shieldingplate 95 is not any hindrance when the apparatus body 2 is conveyed.

[0104] As described above, an opening part is formed in the base plate91. The V letter formed light shielding plate 95 for shielding theopening part from light is configured to be able to be attached both inthe states of being projected upward and of being projected downward.The light shielding plate 95 is attached to the base plate 91 to beprojected upward at the conveyance of the apparatus body 2 and to beprojected downward at an operation of the apparatus body 2.Consequently, the rotation and the movement of the conveyance mechanism40 are allowed while the height of the apparatus body 2 can be lowered.

[0105] Next, the operations of a radiographic image reading apparatus ofthe present invention will be described by means of FIG. 6 to FIG. 12.

[0106]FIG. 7 is a view showing a relation between the conveyancemechanism 40 and the sub-scanning mechanism 50 of the radiographic imagereading apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a view showing thecassette insertion and ejection section 70 of the radiographic imagereading apparatus of the present invention when it is looked at fromabove. FIG. 9 is a view showing the display and operation section 80 ofthe radiographic image reading apparatus of the present invention whenit is looked at from the front. FIGS. 10A and 10B are views showing arelation between the conveyance mechanism 40 and the sub-scanningmechanism 50 at the delivery of the back panel of the radiographic imagereading apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a view showing apositional relation of the cassette 1 in case of an upper side referenceand a center reference of the radiographic image reading apparatus ofthe present invention. FIG. 12 is a transition diagram showing changesof the display contents of a display 81 of the radiographic imagereading apparatus of the present invention.

[0107] Fist, a not shown circuit breaker is tuned on for initiating theapparatus. Next, when an operation switch 82 shown in FIG. 9 is pushed(operation 1), a power source is supplied to a not shown control sectionof the apparatus body 2. An operation lamp 84 is lighted. At the sametime, display indicating while initializing on the display 81 (an LCDpanel in this embodiment) as shown in FIG. 9 or as designated by areference numeral 811 in FIG. 12. At the same time, the initializing ofthe apparatus body 2 and of the not shown control section begin. Formaking the user know the lapse of time until the termination ofinitialization sufficiently, bar display using marks ▪ and □ as shown inFIG. 9 or as designated by a reference numeral 811 in FIG. 12 isperformed. Count down display by replacing a mark ▪ with a mark □ one byone with the lapse of time from the state in which all marks are ▪ tothe state in which all marks are □ is performed. Alternatively, thelapse of time until the termination of the initialization may bedisplayed by means of the numbers of seconds. When the initializationterminates, the display of the display 81 changes to “READY” display asdesignated by a reference numeral 812 in FIG. 12, and it becomespossible to insert the cassette 1 into the apparatus body 2.

[0108] The radiographic image reading apparatus of the present inventionincludes at least two modes as its operation mode. One of them is areading mode for reading image information from the storage phosphorsheet 28, the other one is an erase mode for erasing image informationfrom the storage phosphor sheet 28. When an apparatus is initiated, thereading mode is automatically selected. Two kinds of erase modes areprepared as a MODE 1 (high speed erasing) and a MODE 2 (low speederasing). The MODE 1 (high speed erasing) is the erase mode which isperformed before radiation photographing or after the lapse of a fixedtime after the reading of the image information at the last time. TheMODE 1 is the erase mode to be used, for example, at the use of theradiographic image reading apparatus after erasing all of the storagephosphor sheets 28 at every morning. On the other hand, the MODE 2 (lowspeed erasing) is the erase mode to be used in the case where imageinformation is not necessary, for example, when radiation photographingwas mistaken.

[0109] Next, the erase modes and the transition of the contentsdisplayed on the display 81 will be described by means of FIG. 12.

[0110] For shifting to the erase mode, an erase switch 83 of FIG. 9 ispushed for 3 to 5 seconds (operation 2). By the operation 2, the displayof the display 81 changes from “READY” display to “ERASE MODE1/▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ QUICK” display as designated by a reference numeral 813 inFIG. 12. Then, the radiographic image reading apparatus has shifted tothe MODE 1 (high speed erasing) of the erase mode, and begins thecountdown for 10 seconds in the display similar to that at theinitializing (count down display by replacing a mark ▪ with a mark □ oneby one with the lapse of time from the state in which all marks are ▪ tothe state in which all marks are □ is performed). When the radiographicimage reading apparatus is left for 10 seconds in the state, theapparatus automatically returns to the reading mode. When the eraseswitch 83 is pushed before 10 seconds have passed from “ERASE MODE1/▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪” display (operation 3), the display I of the display 81changes to “ERASE MODE 2/▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ SLOW” display. Then, the erase modeshifts to the MODE 2 (low speed erasing), and the countdown for 10seconds begins. When the radiographic image reading apparatus is leftfor 10 seconds in the state, the apparatus automatically returns to thereading mode.

[0111] When the cassette 1 is inserted into the insertion opening 3during the countdown (within 10 seconds after a mode transition) in bothof the cases where the erase mode is the MODE 1 (high speed erasing) andwhere the erase mode is MODE 2 (low speed erasing) (operation 5 oroperation 6), the cassette 1 is taken into the inner part of theapparatus body 2, and erasing is performed. When the erasing completedand the next erasing becomes possible, the display 81 again displayscountdown. After that, by the insertion of the next cassette 1 into theinsertion opening 3 by the termination of the countdown similarly,erasing work can be continuously performed.

[0112] As described above, because the radiographic image readingapparatus is configured to perform countdown for 10 seconds when theapparatus enters into the erase mode and to perform the erasingcontinuously when the cassette 1 is inserted into the insertion opening3 before the termination of the countdown, it is possible to save thetrouble of reentering into the erase mode at every erasing when a userwants to erase a plurality of sheets continuously. Moreover, because theradiographic image reading apparatus is configured to return to thereading mode automatically when the cassette 1 is not inserted into theinsertion opening 3 before the termination of the countdown for 10seconds, the risk of erroneously erasing the storage phosphor sheet 28which is wanted to be read after the termination of erasing work isremoved.

[0113] When a user wants to terminate the work of the radiographic imagereading apparatus (wants to turn off the power), the user push theoperation switch 82 for 5 seconds (operation 7). By the operation, thedisplay 81 displays “5 seconds until power OFF”, and the display sectionof the number of seconds changes to 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 sequentially. Afterthe lapse of 5 seconds, “ready to power OFF” display appears. At theappearance of the display, countdown begins. When the preparation of thepower OFF has been completed, the display 81 enters in its light-outstate, and the power source which has been supplied to the controlsection of the apparatus body 2 is cut off.

[0114] When an error is once produce in any states or any modes, theoperation of the radiation image reading apparatus stops, and the errormessage designated by a reference numeral 815 shown in FIG. 12 isdisplayed by the display 81. Hereupon, “XXXXX” indicates a part to whichan error code is displayed, and “YYYYYYYYYY” indicates a part showing anoperation which a user should do or a part where work contents aredisplayed. Because the display 81 of the apparatus-body 2 displays anoperation which the user should do or the work contents together with anerror code, the user can instantaneously perform the return from theerror.

[0115] Next, FIG. 6 is used while the reading operation in the readingmode of the radiographic image reading apparatus is described.Incidentally, the erasing operation in the erase mode is similar to thecontents which will be described in the following as to the insertionoperation and the ejection operation of the cassette 1 and the movementof the cassette 1 in the inner part of the apparatus.

[0116] As shown in FIG. 6, a cassette 1 to which radiation imagephotographing has been performed is inserted into the insertion opening3 along an arrow Al direction. At this time, the insertion is performedso that the insertion opening 14 is located on the lower side and thefront face plate 13 of the front panel 10 faces to the obliquely lowerside. That is, the insertion is performed so that the reading surface ofthe storage phosphor sheet 28 faces to the obliquely lower side.Moreover, the cassette 1 is inserted along the wall on the left side ofthe insertion opening 3 to be flush against the left in this embodiment.

[0117] A cassette detection sensor 701 in which a light emission section701 a and a light reception section 701 b operate as a pair is arrangedin an insertion guide section 71 a of the cassette insertion andejection section 70. The reference numeral 701 a designates the lightemission section for emitting infrared light, and the reference numeral701 b designates the light reception section for receiving the infraredlight emitted from the light emission section 701 a. When the cassette 1is inserted into the insertion opening 3, the infrared light emittedfrom the light emission section 701 a of the cassette detection sensor701 is intercepted by the cassette 1, and the light does not arrive atthe light reception section 701 b of the cassette detection sensor 701.The apparatus body 2 detects the insertion of the cassette 1 by means ofthe interception of the infrared light as a cassette detection signal.

[0118] At least two pairs of the cassette detection sensors 701 areprepared as shown in FIG. 7. That is, a pair of a light emission section701 a-1 and a light reception section 701 b-1 is arranged on the leftside of the insertion opening 3. A pair of a light emission section, 701a-2 and a light reception section 701 b-2 is arranged at the center ofthe insertion opening 3. Only in the case where all of the at least twopairs of the cassette detection sensors 701 output the detection signal,an insertion roller 72 a is actuated by a not shown insertion motor. Theactuating of the insertion roller 72 a in turn conveys the cassette 1into the arrow A1 direction, and then the tip of the cassette 1 arrivesat an insertion opening shutter 74. By actuating the insertion roller 72a for a while after the tip of the cassette 1 has arrived at theinsertion opening shutter 74, it is possible to align the cassette 1 tobe horizontal against the insertion opening shutter 74 even if thecassette 1 is inserted in the state of being inclined. An insertionroller 72 b is a driven roller, and the cassette 1 is nipped by theinsertion rollers 72 a and 72 b with the force sufficient for theconveyance.

[0119] When at least one pair of the cassette detection sensor 701 ofthe at least two pairs of the cassette detection sensors 701 does notoutput the detection signal, the radiographic image reading apparatusrecognizes that the cassette 1 was not inserted to be flush against theleft side, and displays a warning message indicating the insertion ofthe cassette 1 to be flush against the left side on the display 81 (aliquid crystal panel capable of displaying letters and signs in thisembodiment). As in this embodiment, by the arrangement of l the pair ofthe cassette detection sensors 701 a-2 and 701 b-2 by the insertionopening 3, even when the cassette 1 having any size is inserted from anydirection, the cassette detection sensors 701 a-2 and 701 b-2 output adetection signal without fail. Consequently, even when the cassette 1 isnot inserted in the state of being flush against the left side, thewarning message indicating the insertion of the cassette 1 in the stateof being flush against the left side can be displayed without fail.

[0120] Moreover, because an insertion opening indicator 76 turns on andoff and a warning beep sound simultaneously to the display of thewarning message, the user never overlooks the occurrence of the abnormalinsertion of the cassette 1.

[0121] As described above, because the abnormal insertion of thecassette 1 is informed immediately after the insertion of the cassette 1(before a part of the cassette 1 is wholly taken into the apparatusbody), the user can immediately perform a correction measure such as thereinsertion of the cassette 1, the making of the cassette 1 to be flushagainst the left side, or the like without losing time.

[0122] When the rotation of the not shown insertion motor, which beginsat the detection of the cassette 1, stops, a code read member 702 readsthe above-mentioned various kinds of information including the sizeinformation of the cassette 1 from the code storage element 200 of thecassette 1. In this embodiment, the code storage element 200 is the barcode label, and the code read member 702 is a bar code reader. However,the code storage element 200 and the code read member 702 are notlimited to the above-mentioned ones.

[0123]FIG. 8 is a view showing the cassette insertion and ejectionsection 70 looked at from above. This embodiment is configured asfollows. That is, because the code read member 702 is arranged on theleft side of the insertion opening 3, by inserting the cassette 1 in thestate of being flush against the left side of the insertion opening 3,the position of the code storage element 200 (bar code label) faces tothe code read member 702 (bar code reader), and the code storage element200 (bar code label) enters into the range where the code read member702 (bar code reader) can read the code storage element 200. Because thewidth of the code of the code storage element 200 (the width of the barcode label) is configured to be a size smaller than the range where thecode read member 702 (bar code reader) can read the code storage element200, even if the insertion position of the cassette 1 is shifted alittle, namely if the cassette 1 is separated from the left side wall ofthe insertion opening 3 a little, the information of the code storageelement 200 (bar code label) on the cassette 1 can be accurately read bythe code read member 702 (bar code reader). Owing to the configurationdescribed above, the user is not necessary for paying attention to theinsertion of the cassette 1, and the stress for inserting the cassette 1can be reduced.

[0124] In this embodiment, the cassette 1 is inserted into the insertionopening 3 in the state of being flush against the left side, but it isneedless to say that the cassette 1 may be inserted into the insertionopening 3 in the state of being flush against the right side. In thiscase, the code read member 702 is arranged on the right side of theinsertion opening 3.

[0125] The insertion opening indicator 76 is arranged in the cassetteinsertion and ejection section 70. In the state in which the cassette 1can be inserted into the insertion opening 3, i.e. in the state in whichno cassette 1 resides in the insertion opening 3 and the insertionopening shutter 74 is closed, the insertion opening indicator 76 lights,and the display 81 performs the display indicating the state in whichthe cassette 1 can be inserted, for example, the display of READY.

[0126] In case of the state in which the insertion of the cassette 1into the insertion opening 3 is prohibited, i.e. in case of the state inwhich the cassette 1 resides in the insertion opening 3, or in the midstof taking the cassette 1 into the inner part of the apparatus body 2, orin the state in which the insertion opening shutter 74 is openedimmediately after the cassette 1 is taken into the inner part of theapparatus body 2, then the insertion opening indicator 76 performslight-out, and the display 81 performs the display indicating the statein which the insertion of the cassette 1 is prohibited, for example, thedisplay of BUSY.

[0127] Moreover, in case of the abnormal insertion of the cassette 1, orin case of the abnormal insertion of something other than the cassette1, the insertion opening indicator 76 turns on and off, and the display81 displays a warning error message indicating the occurrence of theabnormal insertion, and further a warning beep is sounded. Thereby, theuser is informed of the occurrence of the abnormal insertion. In such away, in case of the detection of the abnormal insertion of the cassette1, the cassette 1 is not taken in the inner part of the apparatus body2.

[0128] Hereupon, the abnormal insertion indicates the following cases.

[0129] 1) The case where at least one pair of sensor-in the at least twopairs of the cassette detection sensors 701 did not output the detectionsignal (the case where the insertion of the cassette 1 in the state ofbeing flush against the left side was not performed, or the like). Inthis case, the display 81 displays a warning error message indicatingthe insertion of the cassette I in the state of being flush against theleft side.

[0130] 2) The case where the code read member 702 could not read anycodes, or read an indistinguishable code. In this case, the display 81displays a warning error message indicating the occurrence of a readerror of the code storage element 200 (the bar code in this embodiment).

[0131] The following cases can be considered as the case in which thecode read member 702 cannot read a code, or the case where the code readmember 702 reads an indistinguishable code.

[0132] 1) The case where the cassette 1 was inversely inserted.

[0133] 2) The case where the cassette 1 was inserted upside down.

[0134] 3) The case where a different cassette or something heterogeneouswas inserted.

[0135] 4) The case where the code recorded in the code storage element200 (bar code label) became dirty or was broken.

[0136] 5) The case where the code storage element 200 (bar code label)is not stuck, or is not located at a correct position.

[0137] When the code read member 702 read a code correctly, theinsertion opening shutter 74 is opened, and the not shown insertionmotor actuates the insertion roller 72 a to take the cassette 1 into theapparatus body 2 along the dotted line “a” in an arrow A2 direction.

[0138] When the cassette 1 has been taken in the inner part of theapparatus body 2, the insertion opening shutter 74 is closed, and theinsertion opening indicator 76 in FIG. 8 is lighted (the insertionopening indicator 76 is lighted in the state in which the cassette 1 canbe inserted, and puts out light in the state in which the insertion ofthe cassette 1 is prohibited). Then, the cassette insertion and ejectionsection 70 becomes the state in which the next cassette 1 can beinserted. When the next cassette 1 is inserted at this point of time(the insertion opening indicator 76 puts out light at this point oftime), and when abnormal insertion of the cassette 1 does not happen,the insertion rollers 72 a and 72 b operate, and thereby the cassette 1proceeds to a read position of the code storage element 200 by the coderead member 702 to stop in the state being nipped by the insertionrollers 72 a and 72 b. At this point of time, the code storage element200 is read by the code read member 702. When normal reading has beenconfirmed, the cassette 1 inserted after the first one continues towaiting at the insertion opening 3 until the apparatus body 2 enters inthe state capable of receiving the second cassette 1 (until a rotationmovement body 41 returns to the position of the dotted line “a” in FIG.6 to enter in its waiting state after the reading of the cassette 1taken in the inner part of the apparatus body 2 first has been completedand the cassette 1 has been ejected through the ejection opening 4).When the apparatus body 2 enters in its state capable of receiving thesecond cassette 1, the second cassette 1 is taken in the inner part ofthe apparatus body 2. Because two cassettes 1 can be accepted almostcontinuously in such a way, the working efficiency is improved.Moreover, when an ejection switch 78 is pushed in the state in which thecassette 1 stops in the state of being nipped by the insertion rollers72 a and 72 b, the insertion rollers 72 a and 72 b reversely rotate toeject the cassette 1 to the insertion opening 3. Consequently, theejection function of the cassette 1 by the ejection switch 78 is usefulfor the case where it is found that the cassette 1 was erroneouslyinserted.

[0139] The rotation movement body 41 of the conveyance mechanism 40 hasbeen already waiting at the position of the dotted line “a” at the pointof time when the insertion roller 72 a starts, and the cassette 1 to becarried in through the insertion opening 3 with the insertion rollers 72a and 72 b is received by an elevating platform 43 which moves up anddown along the rotation movement body 41. An elevating platform sensor430 is arranged on the elevating platform 43. When the elevatingplatform sensor 430 detects the tip of the cassette 1, the elevatingplatform 43 operates at almost the same speed as the taking speed of thecassette 1, and descends on the rotation movement body 41 together withthe cassette 1. The elevating platform 43 is controlled so that theupper end of the cassette 1 stops at the position designated by areference letter Z in FIGS. 10A and 11 in accordance with the cassettesize information read from the code storage element 200.

[0140] When the upper end of the cassette 1 stops at the positionindicated by the reference letter Z in FIGS. 10A and 11, width shiftingmembers 42 a and 42 b operate according to the cassette size informationread from the code storage element 200. That is, the width shiftingmembers 42 a and 42 b staying at sheltering positions S1 in FIGS. 10Aand 10B move into arrow M1 directions, and stop at positions S2 wherethe cassette 1 is held. At this time, width shift sensors 420 a and 420b are turned on from their OFF states. When the width shift sensors 420a and 420 b are not turned on, the display 81 displays the errorinformation and the radiographic image reading apparatus stops itsoperation.

[0141] When the width shifting members 42 a and 42 b is staying at thepositions S2 where the cassette 1 is held, the width shifting members 42a and 42 b hold the cassette 1 in the form of holding only the frame 11of the front panel 10 with projection sections 421 a and 421 b on a T1surface side shown in FIG. 10B. In this time, because the width shiftingmembers 42 a and 42 b do not hold the back panel 20, by releasing thelock of the cassette 1, the back panel 20 can be taken off without beinginterfered by the projection sections 421 a and 421 b of the widthshifting members 42 a and 42 b. As described above, because the widthshifting members 42 a and 42 b are configured to hold only the frontpanel 10 and not to hold the back panel 20, the width shifting mechanismand the holding mechanism of the cassette 1 can be made to be commonlyused, and then the number of the parts of the apparatus can be curtailedand the control of the apparatus can be simplified.

[0142]FIG. 11 is a view showing how positional relations of differentcassette sizes are on the rotation movement body 41. A reference numeral1A designates a 14×17 inch size cassette. A reference numeral 1Bdesignates a 14×14 inch size cassette. A reference numeral 1C designatesan 11×14 inch size cassette. A reference numeral 1D designates a 10 12inch size cassette. A reference numeral 1E designates an 8×10 inch sizecassette. A reference numeral 1Fa designates a 24×30 cm size cassette. Areference numeral 1Fb designates a 24×30 cm size cassette formammography. A reference numeral 1Ga designates an 18×24 cm sizecassette. A reference numeral 1Gb designates an 18×24 cm size cassettefor mammography. A reference numeral 1H designates a 15×30 cm sizecassette for dental use. The position of the elevating platform 43 iscontrolled so that the upper ends of all of the cassettes are located atthe position of an arrow Z independent of their sizes. It is supposedthat the control method for controlling the upper ends of the cassettes1 always stop at the same place of the rotation movement body 41 asdescribed above is called as upper side reference control.

[0143] The advantages of the upper side reference control are thefollowing two.

[0144] 1) Because the time during which the sub-scanning mechanism 50conveys the back panel 20 to a read position B can be minimizedindependent of cassette sizes, the processing ability (throughput) ofthe apparatus can be improved.

[0145] 2) Because the upper ends of the back panels 20 can be projectedfrom a sub-scanning movement plate 57 by the same distance U independentof cassette sizes (see FIGS. 7, 10A, 10B and 11), the T1 faces of thetips of the width shifting members 42 a and 42 b (see FIGS. 7 and 10B)can be made to escape to the interior side of the apparatus more thanthe positions of the sub-scanning movement plate 57 and the magnet 58without being interfered by the sub-scanning movement plate 57 and themagnet 58. Moreover, the width shifting members 42 a and 42 b can holdthe cassette 1 in the form of holding the frame 11 of the front panel 10of the cassette 1 with the projection sections 421 a and 421 b withoutbeing interfered by the sub-scanning movement plate 57 and the magnet58.

[0146] Of course, a lower side reference control method, i.e. a controlmethod for controlling the position of the elevating platform 43 so thatthe lower ends of the cassettes 1 always stop at the same place of therotation movement body 41 may be adopted. In this case, because theelevating platform 43 can be descended to the lower end of the apparatusindependent of the size of the cassette 1, the control of the mechanismcan be simplified. Incidentally, the two advantages described abovecannot be obtained.

[0147] A dotted line V shown in FIGS. 10A and 11 is the center line ofthe sub-scanning movement plate 57. The width shifting members 42 a and42 b are controlled so that the centers of all of the cassettes 1coincide with the center line of the sub-scanning movement plate 57.That is, when the taking of the cassette 1 into the inner part of theapparatus body 2 is terminated, as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, the widthshifting members 42 a and 42 b move from the * sheltering positions S1to the directions designated by the arrows M1, and stop at the positionsS2 where the cassette 1 is held (the cassette 1 shown in FIG. 10A issupposed to the one of 8×10 inch size). The cassette 1 positioned on theleft side on the elevating platform 43 during the time moves to thecentral position on the elevating platform 43. After this, all of aseries of processing of the conveyance of the cassette 1 on theconveyance mechanism 40, the sub-scanning of the back panel 20 by thesub-scanning mechanism 50, and then ejection of the cassette 1 isperformed at the central position. This is called as center referencecontrol. As described above, when the cassette 1 is inserted into theinsertion opening 3, the cassette 1 is inserted in the state of beingflush against to the left side (this insertion is called as one sidereference control). The one side reference control is changed to thecenter reference control at the point of time when the cassette 1 istaken into the inner part of the apparatus body 2.

[0148] Ordinarily, when a film is conveyed, or when a storage phosphorsheet is conveyed, the one side reference control by which the film orthe storage phosphor sheet is conveyed in the state of being flush toone side is performed. In this embodiment, because the conveyancemechanism 40 (rotation movement body 41) and the sub-scanning mechanism50 should treat various sizes of the cassette 1 and the back panel 20,the positions of the centers of gravity of the cassette 1 and the backpanel 20 in the horizontal direction and the center of the sub-scanningmovement plate 57 do not coincide with each other by the one sidereference control. Consequently, there is the possibility that thebalance of the sub-scanning which requires precise conveyance is lost togenerate nonuniformity of speed at reading. Moreover, because the backpanel 20 to which the storage phosphor sheet 28 is attached weightsfairly heavily in comparison with a film or a simple substance of thestorage phosphor sheet, the bad balance of the one side referencecontrol is not preferable in points of the reliability and thestability. Consequently, in this embodiment, the center referencecontrol is preferable.

[0149] However, as to the insertion of the cassette 1, as describedabove, it is preferable to perform the one side reference control. Thatis, by the one side reference control (the control in which the cassette1 is inserted into the insertion opening 3 in the state of being flushagainst the left side or the right side), the code storage element 200(bar code label) can be configured so that the position of the codestorage element 200 faces to the code read member 702 (bar code reader)and the code storage element 200 is located in the range where the codestorage element 200 can be read by the code read member 702. When theinsertion of the cassette 1 is performed by the center referencecontrol, at the step of the insertion of the cassette 1 into theinsertion opening 3, the positions of the code storage element 200 andthe code read member 702 shift to each other to increase the occasionsat which the code of the code storage element 200 cannot be read.Accordingly, a certain cassette position adjusting mechanism becomesnecessary before the read of the code storage element 200, which makesthe apparatus complicated to decrease the reliability.

[0150] However, in the view of easiness of the user's insertion of thecassette 1, it is preferable that no reference is set for the insertionof the cassette 1 and the cassette 1 can be inserted at an arbitraryposition of the insertion opening 3. As a mechanism for realizing this,it is considerable that a noncontact ID label (for example, S label) isused to the code storage element 200. In this case, because the coderead member 702 reads the information recorded in the code storageelement 200 by the use of the radio techniques of the electromagneticwaves, the microwaves or the like, there is no problem even if thepositional relation between the code read member 702 and the codestorage element 200 is shifted a little.

[0151] When an element requiring optical reading such as a, bar code isselected as the code storage element 200, the radiographic image readapparatus may be configured to read the information of the code storageelement 200 after the cassette 1 has been aligned in the insertionopening 3 or in the inner part of the apparatus body 2 by the centerreference or the one side reference.

[0152] Moreover, when the back panel 20 is delivered between theconveyance mechanism 40 (rotation movement body 41) and the sub-scanningmechanism 50, a T2 surface of the elevating platform 43 and thesub-scanning movement plate 57 (or the magnet 58) interfere thedeliverance of the back panel 20. Accordingly, an interference evadingopening 570 is formed in the sub-scanning movement plate 57 (see FIG.10A) for a measure to evade this. Because the position of theinterference evading opening 570 cannot be specified by the one sidereference control and more complicated mechanism becomes necessary, thecenter reference control is preferable in this embodiment in this sensealso.

[0153] This embodiment adopts the center reference control. However,even when the one side reference control which evades theabove-mentioned problems is performed, the essence of the presentinvention is not lost.

[0154] The,rotation movement body 41 of the conveyance mechanism 40includes a rotation shaft 45. The rotation movement body 41 can freelyrotate to move at least in the range from the dotted line “a” to adotted line “c” (the range of angle θ) around the rotation shaft 45 asthe rotation center by being actuated by a conveyance motor unit 46. Therotation to move the rotation movement body 41 is implemented by theoperation in which the conveyance motor unit 46 actuates a pinion gear47 and the pinion gear 47 in turn rotate to move on rugged form rackteeth 480 formed on the circular arc of a rotation support plate 48.

[0155] When the cassette 1 is taken in the inner part of the apparatusbody 2 by the conveyance mechanism 40, the conveyance motor unit 46 isactuated to rotate the pinion gear 47. The rotation movement body 41rotates to move from the position of the dotted line “a” in FIG. 6 tothe position of the dotted line “c” in an arrow A3 direction around therotation shaft 45 as the rotation center. When the rotation movementbody 41 has rotated to move to the position of the dotted line “c”, theback panel back surface 210 of the cassette 1 including a magneticsubstance is attracted by the magnetic force of the magnet 58.

[0156] In this time, by the mechanism (not shown) in which the frontpanel 10 of the cassette 1 is pressed to the magnet 58 side by thespring pressure for controlling the pressing quantity of the cassette 1to the magnet 58, the cassette 1 is pressed to the magnet 58 side.

[0157] A lock opening and closing mechanism 44 and a lock pin 440 forturning on or off the lock mechanism of the cassette 1 are arranged onthe elevating platform 43. By the up and down movement of the lock pin440, the lock mechanism of the cassette 1 can be turned on or off.

[0158] The sub-scanning mechanism 50 is composed of a support pole 51,sub-scanning rails 52 a and 52 b, sub-scanning movable sections 53 a and53 b, pulleys 55, a steel band 54, a sub-scanning movement plate fixingmember 56, the sub-scanning movement plate 57, the magnet 58, abalancing weight 59, and an actuating section (not shown) composed of asub-scanning motor and a speed reducer. The sub-scanning movement plate57 is fixed to the sub-scanning movable sections 53 a with thesub-scanning movement plate fixing member 56 put between them. Both ofthe ends of the steel band 54 are fixed to the sub-scanning movementplate fixing member 56 and the balancing weight 59. The pulleys 55 areconnected to the not shown actuating section, and the pulleys 55transmit the power of the not shown actuating section to the steel band54. The sub-scanning movement plate 57 and the balancing weight 59severally move up and down on the sub-scanning rails 52 a and 52 b byreceiving the power of the not shown actuating section. A linear guideand a linear bearing guide which have high conveyance performance can beused as the sub-scanning rails 52 a and 52 b. A planetary roller speedreducer, a pulley speed reducer and the like can be used as the notshown speed reducer.

[0159] In this embodiment, the magnet 58 is a rubber magnet (permanentmagnet) having a predetermined area. A sheet of the rubber magnetincluding the interference evading opening 570 as shown in FIG. 10A maybe stuck to the whole surface of the sub-scanning movement plate 57, ora predetermined sheets of divided rubber magnet may be stuck to thesub-scanning movement plate 57. Moreover, the rubber magnet can take anarbitrary form. Moreover, a permanent magnet or an electromagnet may beused in place of the rubber magnet.

[0160] The surface section of the magnet 58 which attracts the backpanel back surface 210 has high planarity. When the magnet 58 attractsthe back panel back surface 210, the magnetic substance surface of theback panel back surface 210 is conformed to the plane of the magnet 58.By utilizing the phenomenon, the reading surface of the storage phosphorsheet 28 is taken into consideration so as to be a plane as perfect aspossible. Consequently, even when the back panel 20 is deformed orwarped, the deformation or the warp is corrected at the point of timewhen the back panel back surface 210 is attracted by the magnet 58, andthen the read surface of the storage phosphor sheet 28 can secure itsplanarity.

[0161] When the back panel 20 is attracted by the magnet 58, the lockpin 440 housed in the lock opening and closing mechanism 44 attached tothe elevating platform 43 ascends, and the tip of the lock pin 440 isinserted into the insertion opening 14 of the front panel 10. By thisoperation, the lock of the cassette 1 being in the lock ON state isreleased to shift to be in the lock OFF state. That is, the back panel20 and the front panel 10 become in the state capable of beingseparated. When the cassette 1 has shifted to the lock OFF state, thelock pin 440 descends to be housed in the lock opening and closingmechanism 44 again.

[0162] When the lock of the cassette 1 has been released and thecassette 1 has shifted to be in the lock OFF state, the rotationmovement body 41 rotates to move into an arrow A6 direction, and stopsat a sheltering position (for example, the position of a dotted line“b”). By this operation, it becomes possible to separate the back panel20 and the front panel 10 completely.

[0163]FIG. 7 is a view showing the state in which the back panel 20 andthe front panel 10 are perfectly separated and the rotation movementbody 41 is stopping at the sheltering position. By making the frontpanel 10 shelter from the back panel 20 at a sufficient angle, itbecomes possible to prevent the interference of the back panel 20 withthe front panel 10 when the back panel 20 performs its sub-scanningoperation. A mechanism for performing a series of work for separatingthe back panel 20 and the front panel 10 in such a manner is given ageneral name of separation mechanism.

[0164] A reference numeral 502 in FIG. 6 designates a back panelattraction sensor. The back panel attraction sensor 502 is turned onwhen the back panel 20 is attracted by the magnet 58, and is turned offwhen the back panel 20 is separated from the magnet 58. When the backpanel attraction sensor 502 outputs its OFF state in a time zone duringwhich the back panel attraction sensor 502 should be in its ON stateoriginally, the radiographic image reading apparatus regards the outputsignal as the indication of the peeling off of the back panel 20 fromthe magnet 58 or as the indication of the dropping of the back panel 20from the magnet 58. And then, the radiographic image reading apparatusjudges the situation to be an error.

[0165] When the back panel 20 has been perfectly separated from thefront panel 10 by means of the separation mechanism, the not shownactuating section operates to convey (sub-scan) the back panel 20 intothe arrow A4 direction (upward direction). During the sub-scanningoperation, the storage phosphor sheet 28 is subjected to main scanningin the perpendicular direction to the sub-scanning direction with alaser beam B emitted from a laser scanning unit 61.

[0166] When the laser beam acts on the storage phosphor sheet 28, thephoto-stimulable luminescence (image information) proportional to theradiation energy accumulated in the storage phosphor sheet 28 isreleased. The photo-stimulable luminescence is collected by a lightcollection mirror 64 and an end face of an optical guide 62 to becollected to a light collection tube 63 through the optical guide 62. Itis preferable to use a light collection tube having a structure like onedisclosed in, for example, the specification of Japanese PatentApplication No. 2000-103904 as the light collection tube 63. A not shownphotoelectric conversion element such as a photomultiplier or the likeis arranged on an end face of the light collection tube 63. Thephotoelectric conversion element converts the collected photo-stimulableluminescence to an electric signal. The photo-stimulable luminescenceconverted to the electric signal is processed by predetermined signalprocessing as image data. After that, the processed electric signal isoutput from the apparatus body 2 to image output apparatus such as anoperation terminal, an image storage apparatus, an image displayapparatus, a dry imager and the like (any of them are not shown) throughnot shown communication cables. The image information read mechanismcomposed of the laser scanning unit 61, the optical guide 62, the lightcollection tube 63, the photoelectric conversion element and the like insuch a manner is called as the read mechanism 60. It is needless to saythat the read mechanism 60 may be achieved by configurations other thanthe embodiment as long as the configuration can be a read mechanism forreading image information from the storage phosphor sheet 28.

[0167] Hereupon, several kinds of control pertaining to readingoperation will be described by means of FIG. 6. A reference numeral 503designates a read starting sensor. When the sub-scanning movement plate57 ascends, the sensor 503 is turned on from its OFF state. By utilizingthe timing, the not shown control section calculates a read start timeor a laser light start time.

[0168] A reference numeral 540 designates a pealing detection mechanism.By means of the pealing detection mechanism 540, it is detected whetherthe storage phosphor sheet 28 and the support plate 27 which are stuckto the back panel 20 are floating or begin to peel from the back panel20 or not. In the case where the storage phosphor sheet 28 and thesupport plate 27 are floating or begin to peel from the back panel 20,it is apprehended that the storage phosphor sheet 28 and the supportplate 27 interfere with the light collection mirror 64 and the end faceof the optical guide 62 to destroy the light collection mirror 64 andthe optical guide 62 or to damage the surface of the storage phosphorsheet 28. Accordingly, the floating or the pealing of the storagephosphor sheet 28 and the support plate 27 are detected by the pealingdetection mechanism 540. Then, when the floating or the pealing of thestorage phosphor sheet 28 and the support plate 27 are detected, thesub-scanning operation is stopped, and the sub-scanning movement plate57 is made to descend to the uniting position with the front panel 10.

[0169] The pealing detection mechanism 540 is realized by, for example,the combination of a roller and a sensor. A peeling detection roller 541having the length almost the same as that of the short size direction ofthe 14×17 inch size is held in the horizontal direction. A presser bar542 used for fixing the axis of the peeling detection roller 541 isextended to the front surface side of the apparatus through supportingshaft 544, and a peeling detection 543 is disposed on the rear end ofthe presser bar 542. When the storage phosphor sheet 28 or the supportplate 27 contacts with the peeling detection roller 541 on ascending,the presser bar 542 inclines around the supporting shaft 544 as afulcrum. Then, the peeling detection sensor 543 detects the inclinationto inform a peeling detection signal to the not shown control section.

[0170] When the reading of image information from the storage phosphorsheet 28 is completed, the not shown actuating section begins to conveythe back panel 20 into an arrow A5 direction (lower direction). Duringthe back panel 20 is being conveyed into the arrow A5 direction, anerasing mechanism 65 emits erasing light C to erase the imageinformation remaining in the storage phosphor sheet 28. A halogen lamp,a high intensity fluorescent tube, an LED array and the like can be usedas an erasing lamp to be used in the erasing mechanism 65.

[0171] In this embodiment, n (n>1) erasing lamps are prepared. Moreover,a not shown lamp burning detection member watches whether lump burningof the erasing lamp has occurred or not. When the lamp burning detectionmember detects m (m<n) erasing lamps among the n erasing lamps hasgenerated the lamp burning, the erasing speed is controlled to be almost(n−m)/n of the erasing speed in time of no lamp burning resides, and theerasing is controlled to be performed at the same light quantity as thatin time of no lamp burning resides. By such control, even when lampburning occurred, it is prevented that the apparatus cannot be used, andreading work and erasing work can be continued in the state of the lampburning.

[0172] Moreover, because there is no chance of performing erasing in thestate in which the erasing light quantity has decreased owing to thelamp burning, there is no risks of damaging diagnosis information byexecuting the next photographing in the state of insufficient erasing sothat the remainder of the erasing of the previous image works as noisesto the next image information.

[0173] Moreover, when the lamp burning detection member detects all ofthe n erasing lamps has burned, the error display informing theoccurrence of the lamp burning of all of the erasing lamps is displayedon the display 81, and both of the read operation and the erasingoperation are controlled not to be performed after that. By the controlin such a way, the read work and the erasing work in the state in whicherasing cannot be performed are prohibited, and the accident ofperforming radiation photographing by the use of a cassette 1 theerasing of which has not been performed is prevented.

[0174] This embodiment is configured so that, when the reading mode isselected, the reading of image information is performed on an outwardjourney of the sub-scanning mechanism 50 (conveyance to the upperdirection), and that the erasing of remaining image information isperformed on a return journey of the sub-scanning mechanism 50(conveyance to the lower direction). Consequently, this embodiment caneffectively utilize the time necessary for the reciprocating motion ofthe sub-scanning mechanism 50 without consumes the time in vain.Thereby, the processing ability (throughput) of the radiographic imagereading apparatus can be improved.

[0175] Moreover, when the erase mode is selected, erasing is performedon an outward journey of the sub-scanning mechanism 50 (conveyance tothe upper direction), and erasing is also performed on a return journeyof the sub-scanning mechanism 50 (conveyance to the lower direction).The cycle time in the erase mode can be improved in comparison with thecycle time in the reading mode.

[0176] Moreover, when the erase mode is selected, erasing may not beperformed on an outward journey of the sub-scanning mechanism 50(conveyance to the upper direction), and erasing may performed only on areturn journey of the sub-scanning mechanism 50 (conveyance to the lowerdirection). In this case, the improvement of the cycle time in the erasemode cannot be expected, but it is possible to perform the control ofthe erase mode equally to the control of the reading mode, and therebythe control can be simplified.

[0177] Moreover, in this embodiment, the erasing mechanism 65 isarranged at the lowest step of the read mechanism 60 in the verticaldirection. Consequently, when the read work of image information bymeans of the read mechanism 60 is terminated, it is possible to switchthe moving direction of the sub-scanning mechanism 50 to the returnjourney direction (the lower direction) immediately after thetermination. Thereby, because erasing work can be started during thereciprocating motion of the sub-scanning mechanism 50 without any lossof time, the processing ability (throughput) of the radiographic imagereading apparatus can be further improved.

[0178] Moreover, because the arrangement of the erasing mechanism 65 tothe lowest step of the read mechanism 60 in the vertical directionremoves the chance of passing of the lower end of the back panel 20 atthe read position B in the read mechanism 60, accidents of interferenceof the lower end of the back panel 20 with a collecting mechanism suchas the optical guide 62 or the like to make the descending of the backpanel 20 impossible can be previously prevented. Consequently, thereliability and the stability of the apparatus can be improved.

[0179] At the point of time when the back panel 20 has descended, theorigin position of the sub-scanning direction is confirmed by means of asub-scanning origin sensor 501, and then the back panel 20 ascends tothe position at which the back panel 20 is delivered to the magnet 58with the origin position as the reference to stop the movement of theback panel 20.

[0180] When the back panel 20 stops at the position where the back panel20 is delivered-to the magnet 58, the rotation movement body 41 whichhas been sheltering at the sheltering position again rotates to move tothe position of the dotted line “c” to make the back panel 20 and thefront panel 10 unite with each other. When the back panel 20 and thefront panel 10 unite with each other, the lock pin 440, which has beenhosed in the lock opening and closing mechanism 44, ascends, and the tipof the lock pin 440 is inserted into the insertion opening 14 of thefront panel 10. By the operation, the cassette 1, which has been in thelock OFF state, is locked, and shifts to the lock ON state. That is, theback panel 20 and the front panel 10 are in the state of beingimpossible to be separated from each other. When the cassette 1 shiftsto the lock ON state, the lock pin 440 descends to be housed in the lockopening and closing mechanism 44 again. The mechanism for performing theseries of work for shifting the locked state of the cassette 1 from thelock OFF state to the lock ON state in such a manner is generally calledas a uniting mechanism.

[0181] When the uniting work of the back panel 20 and the front panel 10has been completed by the uniting mechanism, the rotation movement body41 again rotate to move to the position of the dotted line “b” into thearrow A6 direction to stop there. Because the operation of peeling theback panel 20 (cassette 1) from the magnet 58 is performed together withthe rotation movement, the back panel 20 (cassette 1) can be peeled fromthe magnet 58 with smaller force in comparison with the force in case ofpeeling the back panel 20 from the magnet 58 in a parallel movement.When the rotation movement body 41 stops at the position of the dottedline “b”, the width shifting members 42 a and 42 b move from the holdingpositions S2 shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B into arrow M2 directions, andstops at the sheltering positions S1. Thereby, the holding state of thefront panel 10 is released, and the cassette 1 takes the state ofcapable of ascending on the rotation movement body 41.

[0182] When the holding state of the front panel 10 is released, theelevating platform 43 conveys the cassette 1 along the rotation movementbody 41 into the direction of the ejection opening 4, and to deliver thecassette 1 to ejection rollers 73 a, 73 b. When the ejection rollers 73a, 73 b receive the cassette 1, the ejection rollers 73 a, 73 b performejection operation of the cassette 1 until the cassette 1 has beencompletely ejected to the ejection opening 4. When the cassette 1 hasbeen completely ejected to the ejection opening 4, the rotation movementbody 41 rotation to move to the position of the dotted line “a” into thearrow A6 direction and stops there. Then, the rotation movement body 41there shifts to the state capable of receiving the next cassette 1.

[0183] This embodiment is provided with a stacker section in which about2 to 5 cassettes 1 can be stacked at the ejection opening 4. If theposition of the cassette 1 immediately after the completion of theejection to the ejection opening 4 is designated by a reference numeralla in FIG. 6, the cassette 1 ejected to the position la flops into anarrow A8 direction from the upper end of the cassette 1 owing to the ownweight of the cassette 1, and finally moves to the position designatedby a reference numeral 1 b. In order that the operation should beperformed only by the own weight of the cassette 1, a base plate section71 c of the ejection opening 4 is previously inclined from the positionla side to the position 1 b side. The base plate section 71 c is formedof resin parts, and the surface of the base plate section 71 c includesa rib form for decreasing the frictional resistance with the cassette 1.Moreover, Teflon coating is formed lest the rib form should be scrapedowing to the friction with the cassette 1 to decrease the slidingperformance.

[0184] Moreover, for conveying the cassette 1 surely from the position 1a side to the position 1 b side, the radiographic image readingapparatus is configured to provide, for example, an ejection cassetteconveyance mechanism for conveying the lower part of the cassette 1 intothe arrow A8 direction for moving the whole cassette 1 surely from theposition 1 a to the position 1 b. The ejection cassette conveyancemechanism can be realized by adopting a belt conveyance system, a rollerconveyance system, or the like. Moreover, the mechanism in which thecassette 1 is pushed out from the position 1 a side to the position 1 bside by a not shown mechanism may be adopted. As long as the cassette 1ejected from the ejection opening 4 is basically considered not toobturate the exit of the ejection rollers 73 a, 73 b, the cassette 1ejected from the ejection rollers 73 a, 73 b may take any form or anypositional relation in the stacker section of the ejection opening 4.

[0185] Because the ejection opening 4 is configured to be able to stackabout 2 to 5 ejection cassettes 1 (hereinafter, the cassette 1 ejectedfrom the ejection opening 4 will be suitably called as ejection cassette1), a user can insert the cassettes 1 which have been used forphotographing into the insertion opening 3 in order until the ejectionopening 4 is filled with the ejection cassettes 1 without withdrawingthe ejection cassettes 1. Generally a test using radiation photographinguses one to five cassettes 1, averaging about 1.8 cassettes 1 per test.Consequently, if the ejection opening 4 is configured to be able tostack about two to five ejection cassettes 1, it becomes rare that theuser is troubled by the withdrawal of the ejection cassettes 1 during atest, and then the work can be effectively performed.

[0186] When the next cassette 1 is ejected in the case where the stackersection of the ejection opening 4 is filled with the ejection cassettes1, defects such that the ejection cassettes 1 stacked in the ejectionopening 4 already fall by being pushed out by the newly ejected cassette1, or such that the cassette 1 is tried to be compulsorily ejected tocause a breakdown, are generated. Accordingly, a not shown sensor or amechanism is provided for detecting whether the stacker section of theejection opening 4 is filled with the ejection cassettes 1 or not, andthereby whether the stacker section of the ejection opening 4 is filledwith the ejection cassettes 1 or not is detected.

[0187] In this embodiment, whether the stacker section is filled withthe ejection cassettes 1 or not is detected by means of an ejectionshutter 75 which is located at the upper part of ejection rollers 73 aand 73 b and is used for shielding the leaking light from a gap betweenthe ejection rollers 73 a and 73 b. That is, the radiographic imagereading apparatus is also provided with a ejection shutter opening andclosing detection mechanism (not shown) which judges that the stackersection is not filled when the ejection shutter 75 is closed after theejection of a cassette 1, and judges that the stacker section is filledwhen the ejection shutter 75 is not closed after the ejection of acassette 1. Then, the not shown control section detects the filled stateof the stacker section on the basis of a detection signal from theejection shutter opening and closing detection mechanisms. Forperforming the control, the radiographic image reading apparatus isconfigured not to close the ejection shutter 75 lastingly when acassette 1 by which the stacker section is filled is ejected. Asdescribed above, because it is detected only by the opening and closingof the ejection shutter 75 whether the stacker section is filled or not,the apparatus can be constructed to be in a simple structure.

[0188] It is preferable that, when the stacker section of the ejectionopening 4 is filled with the ejection cassettes 1, the defect is evadedby means of the following mechanisms.

[0189] 1) A mechanism for preventing the insertion of the cassette 1into the insertion opening 3.

[0190] 2) A mechanism for preventing to take in the cassette 1 into theinner part of the apparatus body 2 while allowing the insertion of thecassette 1 into the insertion opening 3.

[0191] 3) A mechanism for stopping the cassette 1 before the reading ofimage information while allowing to take the cassette 1 inserted intothe insertion opening 3 into the inner part of the apparatus body 2.

[0192] 4) A mechanism for stopping the cassette 1 before the ejection tothe ejection opening 4 after taking the cassette 1 inserted into theinsertion opening 3 into the inner part of the apparatus body 2 to readimage information of the cassette 1.

[0193] Moreover, it is preferable to inform a user of the state of thestacker section of the ejection opening 4 which is filled with theejection cassettes 1 by means of the following mechanisms in addition tothe adoption of the above-mentioned mechanisms.

[0194] 1) A mechanism for informing the user of the state by displayinga warning error message on the display 81, by turning on and off anejection indicator 77, or by sounding a warning beep.

[0195] 2) A mechanism for informing the user of the state by displayinga message on the monitor of the not shown operation terminal connectedto the display 80 or to the apparatus body, 2.

[0196] 3) A mechanism for informing the user of the state by providing alid (not shown) to the insertion opening 3 to make it impossible toinsert the cassette 1 by closing the lid.

[0197] It is preferable that, when the stacker section of the ejectionopening 4 becomes in the state in which the stacker section is notfilled by the removal of a part of or all of the ejection cassettes 1 bythe user, the processing of the cassettes 1 stopping in the inner partof the apparatus body 2 or at the insertion opening 3 is automaticallyresumed.

[0198] Moreover, it is considerable that the following operation cannotbe continued owing to the generation/of any defect from one cause oranother during the operation of taking the cassette 1 into the apparatusbody 2, during the conveyance operation after the taking of the cassette1 into the apparatus body 2, during the reading operation, during theoperation of ejecting the cassette 1 from the apparatus body 2, or thelike. For example, a defect is produced in the conveyance mechanism 40during the conveyance operation of the cassette 1 to make it impossibleto continue the conveyance operation; the back panel 20 and the frontpanel 10 fall at the delivery of the back panel 20 to the sub-scanningmechanism 50; the front panel 10 and the back panel 20 cannot beseparated; the front panel 10 and the back panel 20 cannot unite witheach other; and the like. As described above, various defects can beproduced.

[0199] When such defects are produced, it is preferable to inform theuser of the production of the defects by means of the similar mechanismsto that of informing the user of the filling of the stacker section ofthe ejection opening 4 with the ejection cassettes 1.

[0200] Moreover, when an error is produced in the state capable ofejecting the cassette 1 after the conveyance of the cassette 1 to theinner part of the apparatus body 2, it is preferable not to eject thecassette 1 to the insertion opening 3, but to eject the cassette 1 tothe ejection opening 4. The reason is that the user may be trying toinsert the next cassette 1 into the insertion opening 3 after thecassette 1 have been conveyed to the inner part of the apparatus body 2.

[0201] Moreover, the radiographic image reading apparatus may beconfigured to examine whether the next cassette 1 has been inserted intothe insertion opening 3 or not with a not shown cassette detectionsensor, and to eject the cassette 1 into the insertion opening 3 whenthe cassette 1 is not detected in the insertion opening 3.

[0202] Moreover, the radiographic image reading apparatus also may beconfigured to change the destination of the ejection of the cassette 1according to the progress of the processing, for example, to eject thecassette 1 to the insertion opening 3 when an error has been producedbefore the read of image information, to eject the cassette 1 to theejection opening 4 when an error has been produced during or after thereading of image information, or the like. Moreover, the radiographicimage reading apparatus may be configured not to eject the cassette 1,but to stay the cassette 1 in the inner part of the apparatus and tostop the operation of the apparatus.

[0203] Moreover, when an error is produced, it is preferable to displaythe information for specifying the cassette 1 in which the error hasbeen produced, for example, the identification number (ID number) or thelike of the storage phosphor sheet 28 which is stored in the codestorage element 200 together with an error message on the display 81,the monitor of the not shown operation terminal connected to theapparatus body 2 to make it possible that the user can distinguish thecassette 1 in which the error has been produced.

[0204] In particular, when the cassette 1 in which an error has beenproduced is ejected to the insertion opening 3 or the ejection opening4, it is preferable to inform the user of the information for specifyingthe cassette 1 in which the error has been produced or an error messageindicating the contents of the error.

[0205] Moreover, in the case where the cassette 1 is not ejected but isstopped in the inner part of the apparatus and the operation of theapparatus is stopped when an error has been produced, if which positionin the inner part of the apparatus the cassette 1 (the back panel 20,the front panel 10 or the like) is staying at is diagrammaticallydisplayed by means of a cartoon on the display 81, the not shownoperation terminal or the lie, or if an instruction message pertainingto what an operation procedure makes it possible to take out thecassette 1 (the back panel 20, the front panel 10 or the like) which isstaying at the inner part of the apparatus is displayed, then thecassette 1 (the back panel 20, the front panel 10 or the like) stayingat the inner part of the apparatus can be taken out for a short time.

[0206] Moreover, when an error is produced in the state in which thecassette 1 cannot be ejected to the outside, or when the cassette 1 iscontrolled to be stopped in the inner part of the apparatus when anerror is produced, the operation of the apparatus is stopped, and theoccurrence of the error is informed to the user in the state in whichthe cassette 1 is left in the inner part of the apparatus. In this time,it is preferable that the staying of the cassette 1 in the inner part ofthe apparatus and the necessity of the removal of the cassette I areinformed together with an error message. In this time, it is preferableto display an action which the user should take to the error as anmessage together with the error information.

[0207] As errors which can be produced other than the errors pertainingto the cassette 1 and the apparatus mechanism, an * I electrical error,an error related to software, a communication error, an optical errorand the like can be considered. Even when these errors are produced, itis preferable to inform the user of the contents of the errors as anerror message.

[0208] In case of the apparatus to be used in a medical spot, when theapparatus has stopped owing to a defect, it is preferable not only toinform the user of the occurrence of the defect, but also to eliminatethe defect immediately, and to restore the apparatus to be able to beused again.

[0209] However, such the restoring work of the defect of the prior artradiographic image reading apparatus using a storage phosphor has beenlimited to the work of a service man. Consequently, when an defect isproduced, the user is obliged to call a service man and to stop theradiation photographing service until the service man arrives.

[0210] In a copy machine, a printer or the like, it has become commonknowledge to install a user maintenance mechanism for enabling a user torelease a jam when output paper causes the jam. As the reasons why sucha user maintenance mechanism has not been realized in the radiographicimage reading apparatus using a storage phosphor, the following causescan be considered.

[0211] 1) In case of the copy machine or a printer, because output paperare very cheap, the presupposition that the output paper which hascaused a jam may be spoilt (may be output again) can be concluded.However, in case of the radiographic image reading apparatus using astorage phosphor, a storage phosphor sheet is very expensive.Consequently, the presupposition that the storage phosphor sheet may bespoilt is not concluded. Because of such a restriction, the constructionof the mechanism of the user maintenance is difficult.

[0212] 2) In a copy machine or a printer, even when the output paperwhich has caused a jam is spoilt, a copy or a print out can be performedagain. On the contrary, the storage phosphor sheet used for aradiographic image reading apparatus stores image information of apatient. When the storage phosphor, sheet is spoilt, it is necessary toperform re-photographing of the patient. However, the re-photographingmakes the patient be exposed by superfluous radiation, which is veryundesirable.

[0213] Accordingly, in this embodiment, the user maintenance mechanismof a radiographic image reading apparatus, mainly a cassette jamreleasing mechanism, is realized in the following configuration.

[0214] As shown in FIG. 6, the apparatus body 2 is provided with themaintenance door 5. By opening the maintenance door 5, the user canaccess the inner part of the apparatus body 2. Moreover, the rotationmovement body 41 can be rotated to move to the position of a dotted line“d” with a hand operation. Thereby, the user can access a part moreinside (on the sub-scanning mechanism 50 side) than the position of therotation movement body 41. The mechanism will be described by means ofFIGS. 6 and 7. The user opens a maintenance door lock 510 with a manualoperation, and makes the maintenance door 5 an open state. When themaintenance door 5 is in its close state, an interlock killer 530 fixedon the maintenance door 5 acts on an interlock switch 96 fixed to theapparatus body 2, and then the apparatus body 2 is in the state in whichthe apparatus body 2 can operate. However, when the maintenance door 5becomes its open state, the interlock killer 530 comes out from theinterlock switch 96, and the interlock works to intercept the powersource supply mainly to a mechanism actuating system of the motor, thesensors and the like, a laser actuating system, a high voltage powersource system to the photomultiplier tube.

[0215] In the inside of the maintenance door 5, a rotation knob 49 ishoused in a housing box 521. The user takes out the rotation knob 49from the housing box 521 to fit fitting holes 493 of a disk 492 of therotation knob 49 to projections 463 of a cylinder member 462 fixed to amotor shaft 461 of the conveyance motor unit 46.

[0216] Next, when a rotation handle 490 of the rotation knob 49 ispinched and the rotation knob 47 is rotated clockwise, the pinion gear47 rotates on the rack teeth 480 on the rugged form formed on thecircular arc of the rotation support plate 48. Then, the rotationmovement body 41 rotates to move into the direction of the dotted line“d”. When the rotation movement body 41 has rotated to move to theposition of the dotted line “d”, a space through which accessing to theinner part of the apparatus body 2 can be done is generated. Then, theuser can take out the cassette 1 staying in the inner part of theapparatus body 2.

[0217] Incidentally, a mechanism in which when the rotation knob 49 isnot correctly housed in the housing box 521, the housing confirmationmember 520 enters into the space between the maintenance door 5 and theapparatus body to make it impossible to close the maintenance door 5, isadopted. Owing to the mechanism, the apparatus does not operate in thestate in which the rotation knob 49 is fitted to the projection 463 ofthe cylinder member 462. Consequently, there is no fear of causingtorque changes in the rotations of the motor shaft 461, and a break ofthe apparatus owing to the coming off of the rotation knob 49 in theapparatus during its operation.

[0218] There are many cassettes 1 staying in the inner part of theapparatus body 2 in the form in which the front panels 10 and the backpanels 20 unite with each other on the elevating platforms 43 chiefly.In this case, it is possible to taken out the cassettes 1 along therotation movement body 41 immediately. In this case, because the storagephosphor sheets 28 are protected in the inner part of the cassettes 1,it is possible that a cassette jam can be released without damaging thestorage phosphor sheets 28.

[0219] As another case, there is a case where the back panel 20 resideson the magnet 58 and the front panel 10 resides on the rotation movementbody 41. In this case, after the back panel 20 has been peeled from themagnet 58 and has been superposed on the front panel 10 on the rotationmovement body 41 at a normal position, both of the front panel 10 andthe back panel 20 can be drawn out along the rotation movement body 41.Because the back panel 20 is attracted to the magnet 58 only by themagnetic force, the back panel 20 can be easily peeled from the magnet58 without performing superfluous operation. Moreover, because theapparatus is configured to be able to move up and down the sub-scanningmovement plate 57 of the sub-scanning mechanism 50 with manualoperations, the sub-scanning movement plate 57 can be manually operatedto a position where the back panel 20 can be easily peeled from themagnet 58. This case is characterized by the capability of keeping thestate in which any mechanisms do not contact with the surface of thestorage phosphor sheet 28 on the back panel 20. Consequently, cassettejams can be released without injuring the surface of the storagephosphor sheet 28.

[0220] As the other case, there is the case where the front panel 10 isejected to the ejection opening 4 and only the back panel 10 isremaining on the magnet 58. In this case, the back panel 20 is peeledfrom the magnet 58, and the peeled back panel 20 is taken out to theoutside of the apparatus carefully. This case is also characterized bythe capability of keeping the state in which no mechanisms contact witthe surface of the storage phosphor sheet 28 on the back panel 20.Cassette jams can be released without injuring the surface of thestorage phosphor sheet 28.

[0221] Moreover, even when the cassette 1, the front panel 10 or theback panel 20 falls in the inner part of the apparatus body 2, thefallen cassette 1, the front panel 10 or the back panel 20 can be pickout by rotating and moving the rotation movement body 41 into thedirection of the dotted line “d”.

[0222] Because the positions of the elevating platform 43 and the widthshifting member 42 can be changed with manual operations, the elevatingplatform 43 can be manually moved into the arrow A2 direction(downward), or the width shifting members 42 a and 42 b can be movedinto the arrow M2 directions shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B when the uppersection of the cassette 1 interferes with the insertion rollers 72 a and72 b, the ejection rollers 73 a and 73 b, or the mechanism in the innerpart of the apparatus to make it impossible that the rotation movementbody 41 rotates to mover into the direction of the dotted line “d”.Consequently, the user can take out the cassette 1 in which a defect hasbeen caused to the outside of the apparatus without using specific jig.

[0223] Moreover, a feature of the apparatus is that the apparatusmechanism has no sections in which the cassette 1, the front panel 10 orthe back panel 20 is gripped or is held with strong force to the degreeof making it impossible to take out one of them with manual operations.Although the insertion rollers 72 a and 72 b and the ejection rollers 73a and 73 b grip the cassette 1, the cassette 1 can be easily taken outbecause the insertion rollers 72 a and 72 b and the ejection rollers 73a and 73 b rotate in a free state. Moreover, even in the state in whichthe cassette 1 is held by the width shifting members 42 a and 42 b inthe inner part of the apparatus body 2, the cassette 1 can be easilytaken out because there are no parts where the width shifting members 42a and 42 b and the cassette 1 are fitted to each other (because thecassette 1 is in the state in which the width shifting members 42 a and42 b are only pressing from both sides of the cassette 1). Moreover,because the width shifting members 42 a and 42 b can be manually movedinto the arrow M2 directions shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, the cassette 1can be taken out after being made to be in a free state on the elevatingplatform 43.

[0224] Moreover, when the cassette 1 is made to stay to be stopping inthe inner part of the apparatus body 2 at the occurrence of an error,the apparatus is stopped after the rotation movement body 41 has beenmoved to the position of the dotted line “a” and the width shiftingmembers 42 a and 42 b are moved to the positions of the waitingpositions S1. Then, the display 81 performs error display. Thereby, thetime necessary for user's taking out the cassette 1 can be minimized.

[0225] Moreover, also when the back panel 20 resides on the magnet 58,by making the sub-scanning movement plate 57 descend to the deliveryposition to the front panel 10 to stop the apparatus, the time necessaryfor a user to take out the cassette 1 can be minimized.

[0226] Moreover, when the radiographic image reading apparatus isconfigured so that the position of the cassette insertion and ejectionsection 70 can be easily changed with manual operations (for example,the apparatus is configured so that the position of the cassetteinsertion and ejection section 70 can be manually slid or rotated tomove into the upper direction, or configured so that the position of thecassette insertion and ejection section 70 can be manually rotated tomove in the horizontal direction like a maintenance door, or configuredso that the cassette insertion and ejection section 70 can easilyremoved with manual operations), the accessing space to the inner partof the apparatus is widened, and the maintenance work becomes easy toperform.

[0227] One of the important errors which can be caused in thisembodiment is an error of leaving the back panel 20 in the inner part ofthe apparatus body 2 and of ejecting only the front panel 10 (fallingerror of the back panel 20). This error is an defect produced bydropping the back panel 20 erroneously at the uniting work of the frontpanel 10 and the back panel 20. Because there is no measure forconfirming the result of uniting after the uniting work of the frontpanel 10 with the back panel 20 even if the defect has been produced,only the front panel 10 is ejected with the back panel 20 being left inthe inner part of the apparatus body 2. After that, when the nextcassette 1 has been taken in the inner part of the apparatus and aseries of operation has begun, not only the back panel 20 dropped in theinner part of the apparatus is broken, but also the apparatus mechanismis damaged. Accordingly, this embodiment settled the problem by thefollowing measure.

[0228] First, as shown in FIG. 7, the ejection roller 73 b is formed tobe a dumpling roller so as to form a space at the center section of theejection roller 73 b, and a back panel falling detection mechanism isformed in the space. The back panel falling detection mechanism iscomposed of a back panel tracing rod 73 b 1 and a back panel fallingdetection sensor 73 b 2. In the state in which the cassette 1 does notpass the ejection roller 73 b, the back panel falling detection sensor73 b 2 outputs an ON signal. When the front panel 10 passes the ejectionroller 73 b with the back panel 20, the tip of the back panel tracingrod 73 b 1 on the ejection opening 4 side inclines to the upper side,and the back panel falling detection sensor 73 b 2 outputs an OFFsignal. When the cassette 1 has passed the ejection roller 73 b, theback panel falling detection sensor 73 b 2 again outputs the ON signal.That is, when the front panel 10 passes the ejection roller 73 b withthe back panel 20, the back panel falling detection sensor 73 b 2continues to output the OFF signal always during the front panel 10 ispassing.

[0229] However, when the front panel 10 has passed the ejection roller73 b without the back panel 20, the tip of the back panel tracing rod 73b 1 on the ejection opening 4 side once inclines to the upper side whenthe frame 11 part of the front panel 10 passes there. At this time, theback panel falling detection sensor 73 b 2 outputs the OFF signal.However, because the back panel 20 does not exist after that, the backpanel falling detection sensor 73 b 2 again outputs the ON signal. Thatis, the back panel falling detection sensor 73 b 2 always continues tooutput the, ON signal during the front panel 10 passes except for ashort time when the frame 11 part of the front panel 10 passes. Bycatching the ON signal, the not shown control section can recognize thatthe back panel 20 is left in the inner part of the apparatus body 2, andthe control section can control the apparatus not to operate even whenthe next cassette 1 is inserted.

[0230] The conveyance mechanism 40 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6includes at least two kinds of conveyance mechanism of a linearconveyance mechanism (a mechanism for linearly conveying the cassette 1into up and down directions along the rotation movement body 41 of theconveyance mechanism 40) by the elevating platform 43, and a rotationconveyance mechanism for rotating and moving the cassette 1 around therotation shaft 45 as the rotation center.

[0231]FIG. 6 shows an example realizing the two conveyance mechanisms ofthe linear conveyance mechanism and the rotation conveyance mechanism onthe rotation movement body 41. However, for example, the two conveyancemechanisms of the linear conveyance mechanism and the rotationconveyance mechanism may be realized by individual mechanisms. Forexample, the radiographic image reading apparatus may be configured sothat the rotation conveyance mechanism rotates to move independent ofthe linear conveyance mechanism.

[0232] Moreover, the rotation conveyance mechanism may be configured sothat a part of the conveyance mechanism 40 (rotation movement body 41)rotates to move.

[0233] Moreover, the rotation conveyance mechanism may be configure bybeing divided into a plurality of rotation conveyance mechanisms.

[0234] Similarly, a linear conveyance mechanism may be configured bybeing divided into a plurality of linear conveyance mechanisms.

[0235] Moreover, the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 is configured toseparate the front panel 10 and the back panel 20 after the back panelback surface 210 of the back panel 20 has been attracted to the magnet58. However, the embodiment may be configured to make the back panelback surface 210 of the back panel 20 be attracted to the magnet 58after the front panel 10 and the back panel 20 have been separated fromeach other.

[0236] Moreover, the embodiment of FIG. 6 is configured to separate thefront panel 10 and the back panel 20 from each other after rotating andmoving the cassette 1. However, the embodiment may be configured torotate to mover only the back panel 20 after separating the front panel10 and the back panel 20 from each other.

[0237] Moreover, the embodiment of FIG. 6 is configured to deliver theback panel 20 to the sub-scanning mechanism 50 by means of the rotationand movement of the rotation movement body 41. However, the embodimentmay be configured to deliver the back panel 20 to the sub-scanningmechanism 50 by the rotation and the movement of a part or the whole ofthe sub-scanning movement plate 57.

[0238] Moreover, in the embodiment of FIG. 6, the conveyance mechanism90 and the sub-scanning function 50 are constructed on the samesubstrate 92, and the substrate 92 is fixed to the base plate 91 withthe rubber vibration isolator 93 between them. However, the embodimentmay be configured so that the convey mechanism 40 and the sub-scanningfunction 50 are constructed on different substrates and the respectivesubstrates are fixed to the base plate 91 with the rubber vibrationisolator 93 put between them, or that the conveyance mechanism 40 isdirectly constructed on the base plate 91. Thereby, it can be preventedthat vibrations generated by the operation of the conveyance mechanism40 are propagated to the sub-scanning mechanism 50.

[0239] Moreover, the embodiment of FIG. 6 may be configured so that theback panel 20 is absorbed to the sub-scanning movement plate 57 equippedwith an absorption member such as vacuum. In this case, the back surfaceof the back panel back surface 210 is unnecessary to be a magneticsubstance, an the magnet 58 on the sub-scanning movement plate 57 isalso unnecessary.

[0240] Moreover, the embodiment of FIG. 6 may be configured so that onlyone of the insertion opening 3 and the ejection opening 4 of thecassette insertion and ejection section 70 can be demounted from aconveyance read section 2 a, or that the position can be changed withmanual operations. Moreover, the embodiment may be configured so thatthe insertion opening 3 and the ejection opening 4 of the cassetteinsertion and ejection section 70 can be individually removed, or thepositions can be individually changed with manual operations.

[0241] The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. Tokugan2002-276241 filed on Aug. 16, 2002 including specification, claimsdrawings and summary are incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

What is claimed is:
 1. A radiographic image reading apparatus forreading radiographic image information from a storage phosphor sheet,comprising: a conveyance mechanism for conveying the storage phosphorsheet, a cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet, or a part of thecassette holding the storage phosphor sheet; and a conveyance mechanisminclining mechanism for inclining the conveyance mechanism; wherein whenthe storage phosphor sheet, the cassette holding the storage phosphorsheet, or the part of the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet,is jammed while the storage phosphor sheet, the cassette holding thestorage phosphor sheet, or the part of the cassette holding the storagephosphor sheet is conveyed by the conveyance mechanism, the conveyancemechanism inclining mechanism inclines the conveyance mechanism so as tobe able to remove the storage phosphor sheet, the cassette holding thestorage phosphor sheet, or the part of the cassette holding the storagephosphor sheet from the radiographic image reading apparatus.
 2. Theradiographic image reading apparatus of claim 1, further comprising amaintenance door for opening and closing a part of a casing of theradiographic image reading apparatus so as to be able to remove thestorage phosphor sheet, the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet,or the part of the cassette holding the storage phosphor sheet from theradiographic image reading apparatus.
 3. The radiographic image readingapparatus of claim 2, further comprising an interlock mechanism forstopping an operation of the conveyance mechanism when an open state ofthe maintenance door is detected.
 4. The radiographic image readingapparatus of claim 1, further comprising an actuating section foractuating the conveyance mechanism, wherein the conveyance mechanisminclining mechanism comprises a jig attachment section for attaching ajig for rotating a rotation shaft of the actuating section to adirection of inclining the conveyance mechanism, and the rotation shaftof the actuating section is rotated to the direction of inclining theconveyance mechanism by attaching the jig to the jig attachment sectionand by operating the jig.
 5. The radiographic image reading apparatus ofclaim 2, further comprising an actuating section for actuating theconveyance mechanism, wherein the conveyance mechanism incliningmechanism comprises a jig attachment section for attaching a jig forrotating a rotation shaft of the actuating section to a direction ofinclining the conveyance mechanism, and the rotation shaft of theactuating section is rotated to the direction of inclining theconveyance mechanism by attaching the jig to the jig attachment sectionand by operating the jig.
 6. The radiographic image reading apparatus ofclaim 4, wherein the jig is a rotation knob.
 7. The radiographic imagereading apparatus of claim 6, wherein the conveyance mechanism isinclined by manually rotating the rotation knob.
 8. The radiographicimage reading apparatus of claim 4, wherein the jig attachment sectionis a cylinder member.
 9. The radiographic image reading apparatus ofclaim 5, wherein the maintenance door includes a housing portion forhousing the jig, and the maintenance door does not take a close statewhen the jig is not housed in the housing portion of the maintenancedoor.